


Circling the Drain

by wRetcHed_biTch



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Child Abuse, F/F, F/M, M/M, Sex
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-12
Updated: 2021-03-06
Packaged: 2021-03-08 06:29:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 44,863
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26967514
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wRetcHed_biTch/pseuds/wRetcHed_biTch
Summary: Eren Jeager is a freshman at Trost University. He wants to become a social worker, so he can help kids like himself. He believes in helping people, but not love. That is, until he meets someone at university that just might change his mind.
Relationships: Armin Arlert/Erwin Smith, Levi/Eren Yeager
Comments: 20
Kudos: 52





	1. Light of My Life

*I do not own anything relating to Shingeki no Kyojin/ Attack on Titan.*

Eren Jeager POV

I have never believed in love. Just the thought of falling for the one person I am supposed to spend the rest of my life with sends a sharp wave of cold through my body. I must admit, that it does have its appeal. Getting to know that one soul who is supposed to protect and love you no matter what. Having a constant in my life would be nice. Someone to rely on when times get tough, or someone being there when things are going good for a change. Watching the couples around me being so happy just to be in each other's company. Doing ordinary things and going about their lives as if nothing bad will ever happen to them. Trusting them with your darkest secrets… I think this is where my hesitation lies. No matter how much you think you know a person, you cannot know everything about them. Everybody lies, and you cannot trust everybody.

Some seem to love being in love, while others seem to relish in tearing down the significant other. It is like they crave to fight with them and bring them to their lowest point. The fire spewing from each other's mouths as they destroy one another… Just to build each other up again. Words spoken so harshly seem to have been forgiven and all is well. Until things fall through. Someone is caught cheating or “things just aren’t how I pictured them to be”. Hearts get broken. 

People will break your heart either on purpose or not. They do not mean to, but sometimes it just happens. You find the one. You get to watch them grow into themselves as you grow old together. The winkles that start to appear, the old age wisdom, the faded color of their hair, and the height difference is not so big now. You watch as they grow old and weak. Eventually, they have to leave you. It is not their choice, but it is time for them to go. Of course, you cannot help but be sad whenever they do go. You have spent years with this person: confiding in them, supporting them, protecting them, and consulting them. Then, they are gone. You can’t help but be a little angry at them for leaving you. You are alone now. You continue to grow older on your own. Things get more difficult to recall, and you hope that you will not forget the one person who truly made you happy. 

I for one, never want to experience that type of heartbreak. You end up thinking about them constantly. With every action, you wonder what they would have done, or if they would have decided on the same thing. You tear up whenever you see an old photograph, or whenever they are mentioned. Your heart aches with the knowledge that you will never see them in person again. You find yourself hoping that when it is your own time to go, the person that you do see is your soulmate. Sometimes, you find yourself wishing for death, not because you want to die. You just want to see them again. Hold them. Feel their skin, and run your fingers through their hair. Kiss them. Just to be in their presence would be enough. . . 

Some people might find this romantic and how things should go. I do not want to experience that. I do not want to love someone with everything that I have only to have them leave me alone in this cruel world. As I said before, a part of me craves it. The connection… I just cannot bring myself to do it. Maybe someday… 

***  
Trost 2010  
Trost University 

I decided on my major long before I even thought about college. Before I started to actually do well in school. Hell, I don’t think my mind knew fully what the concepts of social work and psychology were. I wanted to help people, especially children, in any way that I could. The way that people had helped me. . .

Anyway, today was the first term of my freshman year. I decided to move away from my hometown, and so far it was lonely. I don't mind. My roommate had not shown up yet, which I thought was odd. My “Resident Hall Director'', as Nile Dok liked to be called, said that my room mate in question was held up but would be here within the next couple of days. I had hoped that I would not have one. That I would be graced with peace and quiet while I started my first term. Oh well, I am sure the library will suffice. 

Moving away wasn’t a big deal. I mean, I did not have any family, and no close friends to speak of. So, it was easy to just pick up and move. Petra, my social worker, had made this big speech about how many friends that I was going to make, and how I had chosen an excellent school to attend. I mean, when everything is already paid for, why not choose the best? I had lost my family at an early age. Well, half of my family. The other half is dead. 

My mother died of breast cancer when I was very little. I barely even remember her. The pictures I have are of those of a woman I didn’t know with a smile identical to my own. I have heard many people say that she was a wonderful woman, but I don’t know. I feel guilty that I don’t have much of a connection with her, but how can you if you never knew the person?

On the other hand, my father left around the same time. For some reason, I can remember him. Maybe it’s because he left willingly and not of natural causes. Maybe it’s because he didn’t say goodbye, or love me. . .

I shook my head. Now was not the time to think about such things. I have a fresh start ahead of me. A new town, new place to stay, and hopefully some friends. If I had time for them. I have a pretty full class schedule, and on top of that keeping my heat cycles in check was going to be a full time job. Speaking of jobs, I had to find a part time one. So, maybe I won't have time to hang around a whole lot, but I was okay with that. 

I lay in bed pondering how long I could lay here until I absolutely had to get up. I look to the side. Seven fifteen. Ugh. I stretch along the length of the bed before rolling out of it. I glance over at the empty bed across the room, and wonder when they were going to show. I shrug and walk over to the door and grab my shower caddy on the way out. 

I enter the shower room and start to undress without the concern of wondering eyes. Petra had made double sure that the dorm building that I was staying in was an all omega one. She even made sure that it had an adequate security and scent blocking system in place before she even let me apply to the college. Petra has been my social worker for the past six years. I was one of her first cases after she graduated. She was also the one who has stayed with me the longest. She has endured a lot of the years from me, and I am grateful that she has stuck with me. I think she has been around this long because she wanted to prove that she could do it and not be like all of the others. 

I smile as I look into one of the mirrors. Petra is like the mother that I never knew. She is always there for me when I need her day or night. If I had to picture my mother, I think Petra would be the closest thing to her. 

The door open again. Out of curiosity, I look into the mirror at the door to see a well built blonde come strutting in. If it weren’t for the sweet smell emanating off of the male, I would have mistaken him for an alpha. He must have worked hard to look that way. A couple of years ago, I tried to build up a little muscle, but the physical exertion wasn’t for me. My eyes rake over his defined muscles, and then I peek down at my own form.

I was skinny. Hairless like all omegas. Rounded hips. No muscles that you see right off the bat. My messy hair. The green eyes that I hate so much, only because I got them from my father. I guess I could be considered above average in the looks department, but I look like most of the omegas at this school. All this to attract a mate… 

I look away and step into one of the stalls. I quickly go through my shower routine. I dry myself off in the stall before stepping out. From the noise a couple of stalls down I assume that the blonde is taking a shower as well. I dress in my jeans, black shirt, and red converse before heading back to my room. I put the caddy on the desk before grabbing my backpack and leaving again. 

As I left the building, the hot August air hit me like a wall. Sticky with humidity. I began the walk to my first class of the semester. I was disappointed when I found out the majority of my classes over the next two semesters were going to be general education courses. You have to start somewhere I guess. Plus, all these are requirements to even go on with the social work degree. 

As I entered the classroom I found that I was excited to start this new journey in my life. Now, all I needed was some people, besides Petra, to share it with. 

***

All in all, the first day of classes went okay. I mean it is the first day of the semester, so it was just a review of what to expect in the upcoming semester. I enter my dorm, I see that my roommate still has not arrived. Hmm. 

Ring. Ring. 

It could only be one person. 

“Hey, Petra.” I say into the phone. 

“Hey yourself! How was your first day?” Her upbeat voice sounded through, and I felt happier hearing it. “Make any friends? Anyone catch your eye?” I roll my eyes at her antics. 

“You know that I don’t ‘make friends’,” I say as I lay down on the bed, “ people usually thrust their affections on me whether I want them or not.” I laugh. 

“Hmph. Well it won’t kill you to try to make some friends at least. What about your roommate? They have to be nice, right? I mean you guys are going to be living together for the foreseeable future.” Her voice holds a note of concern. Honestly, she does not have to worry so much about me fitting in. I am fine the way I am. 

“I wouldn’t know.” I say as I look at the opposite bed again. “They have not shown up yet.”

“Oh, well I am sure that once they show up, you guys will be great friends!” Petra is always looking on the bright side. 

“I doubt that whoever shows up will want to be the best of friends with someone like me. I mean, I want to be alone most of the time, and I don’t go out a lot. Who would want a roommate that doesn’t do anything?”

“You’d be surprised Eren. There are plenty of other people out there who share you interest in doing ‘nothing’.” She laughs, and I let the sound wash over my body. If I close my eyes, and picture a different smile on the other end, a smile more like mine, I can almost imagine that I am talking to mom. Is this how it’s supposed to feel? Warm. Cared for.

I shake my head. “Anyway, I have plenty of other things to do. I have my studies of course, and I have to find a part-time job.” I exhale a loud breath through my nose. 

“You will do fine. As for the job, I might have someone I can call for you, and you will be happy to hear that it involves what you are majoring in!” I felt a surge of panic.

“You don’t have to do that!” I almost yell. “I don’t want to bother anybody who isn’t looking to hire someone right now.” I can feel the panic in my voice.

“It’s fine. They are a friend of mine, and they have been looking for somebody for this spot for a while. Nobody likes to work weekends, you know?” She laughs again. “Alright kiddo, I have to go. Take care of yourself, and call me if you need anything. I might be a couple of towns over but I will came a runnin’.” She laughs again. “Bye.”

“Bye.” I manage to get in before she hangs up. I almost say ‘I love you’ because I know she won’t hear me. In many ways, she is my mom. Has been for the past six years. Always looking after me, making sure I was fed and clothed and in a good home. She would check in frequently with the families that I would stay with, to make sure I was blending in well with them. I know it is her job to do all of those things, but it feels like more. She has gone above and beyond for me, but I can’t speak for her other cases. 

I have not told her yet that I think of her as a mother, but I think she knows. 

I am broken out of my reverie when the door opens, and a blond comes bounding in. He, well I think they are, stands in the doorway and stares at me for a moment before grinning and throwing their arms around me. I feel myself go stiff as a board before they can fully encase me in their arms. Male for sure. As if sensing my uncomfortable nature, they scramble off of me. 

“Sorry about that! I’m just so excited to meet you!” His smile could blind the blind. I gave him a small smile in return. 

“Eren.” I say finding it futile to shake hands. 

“Armin.” He beams at me. I guess I should be thankful that I got a roommate who wants to be friends. Fast friends. With no questions; yet. I feel my smile widen. Yeah, a friend sounds nice.


	2. Feet Don't Fail Me Now

I wiggle my toes in the sunlight. Watching the gleam of my freshly painted toe nails. Armin chose dark green, saying something about my skin tone and eyes. I don’t know. I have never thought of painting my nails before, and Armin said that was strange considering I am “an omega”. 

I hum to myself as I stare up at my feet that are propped up on the desk. We were in the middle of studying Spanish when Armin got a good look at my unpolished nails. He had a heart attack. He started lecturing about how as an omega, I should keep my body in “prime” condition for any potential suitors. Yeah right, like that is ever going to happen. Nobody has ever looked at me with any interest before. I am too busy anyway… I wonder how Armin would react if he ever found out that I don’t have a regular skin care routine. Ha. 

I sigh from my position on the ground. I mean they don’t look bad. They actually look good. Armin was a perfectionist when it came to painting nails. After the lecture, I should have guessed that he would be phenomenal at it. There was no paint on my skin, and the layering was nice and even. Nobody had ever done something like this for me before. I feel a bubble of something in my chest. I feel giddy and happy. A grin breaks out on my face, and I have to bite my lip to stop the giggle that wants to erupt from my throat. Do friends do this all the time? If it is, I can’t wait to make more friends, and to spend more time with Armin. I want to tell Armin how good it feels to have someone do something so small like paint my nails, but I don’t. I don’t want to seem weird or needy. Maybe it’s an omega thing. I mean, it has only been a couple of weeks since the semester started, and I don’t want to freak him out. 

While Armin is busy studying, I take a good look at him. Petite, like most omegas. Blonde shoulder length hair. Before the start of the semester, he had a section of the left side shaved off. Pierced ears. That was another conversation that Armin had with me about the fashion and whatnot of omegas. I roll my eyes now like I did when he brought it up. I reach up to tug on my earlobes in thought. It has to hurt, right? Not only that, but you have to keep it clean and keep track of it for so long afterward. Armin looks really good with them though. Would I? 

I huff, and tug on my earlobes one last time before letting them go. I go back to staring at my friend. His features were more on the feminine side. Thin lips, little nose, and bright blue eyes. I wonder if I followed his advice, would I look half as good as he does? Who knows. Painted nails of course, blood red. Looks aside, he is observant and intelligent. He wants to be a doctor. A pediatrician. I think he can do it. He never misses a thing. He always seems to know what I am thinking. He says it’s just his skills as an observer, but I think he is a mind reader. I let out a small laugh that gets my roommates attention. 

“What’s funny?” he asks without taking his eyes off the page of his book.

“Nothing, just thinking about your mind reading powers.” I smile up at him. He just laughs and pushes my feet off the desk. I manage to catch my feet before they hit the bookcase next to the desk. I sit up from the floor and raise my arms above my head in a stretch. 

“What is hola?” 

“Hello.”

“Adios?”

“Goodbye.”

“Buenas noches?”

“Goodnight. Can we stop with the vocab words? I think we have them down.” I state as I stand and head towards my bed. 

He swivels in the chair to stare me down. “It never hurts to have more practice. Besides,” he stops talking and a blush erupts on his cheeks, “I have a date tonight, so I won’t be around if you have any more questions before the quiz tomorrow.” My ears perk up at the word ‘date’. He is seeing someone. Since when? He has never mentioned anyone before now. Did he meet someone on campus? I want to voice all of my questions, but my earlier fear comes back, and I stay quiet. Armin must have seen the conflict on my face, because he rushed with an explanation. “He is my boyfriend. We have been dating for about a year now. He is… a little bit older, that’s why I didn’t say anything.” He looks down at the ground. Now, he is the one who looks self-conscious. 

“I don’t care.” I say, which is true. He is smart, maybe the smartest person I know. If there is anyone's judgement I were to trust, it would be his. Besides, who cares if they are a little bit older? As long as he treats Armin right, I couldn't care less. I give him a smile. “Do I get to meet him?” I ask. 

His shoulders drop a bit at the question, and I feel my eyebrows crinkle in confusion. “No, no tonight at least.” He says while playing with the edge of his shirt. “He is a very personal person.” I nod, and we both go quiet. It’s uncomfortable, because in a way it feels like he doesn’t want me to meet him. I want to push him on the subject, but our friendship is still developing. I stay silent, even though I feel that something is off. Then again, it could be me overthinking things. I shake off the bad feelings and try to reassure my friend. 

“It’s fine.” I state and smile at him again. “We only just got here, and we don’t know each other that well. Maybe, we will meet someday when we are all ready to.” God, I sound like an idiot. Am I even going about this the right way? It seems to have worked. Armin lights up, and bounces off the chair to embrace me in a bear hug. 

“Thank you! I will make sure you two meet soon! Anyway, I have to go get ready.” He releases me from his death grip, and goes to gather his things. I look around the room, and realize I don’t want to stay in here alone. 

“What am I going to do while you’re gone?”

He turns to look at me with a glint in his eyes. “You can always go to the rec room.”

***

The recreation room. A noisy, crowded place. I have been down there once before for a welcome mixer, and I hated every second of it. I can’t hear myself think. Everybody wants to talk to each other and try to get to know one another… I guess that is the point of going in the first place. It should be what I am supposed to be doing as well. Making friends. Talking to people. Great. 

I stand outside the entrance to the rec room, just staring inside. Watching people play pool, x-box, and board games. I look down at the outfit Armin picked out for me. Not my clothes that's for sure. Armin was ecstatic to find out that we wore the same size in clothing, but I cursed under my breath. I could only imagine what kind of clothes he had for nights out and hanging out with friends, and now I know. Short blue jean shorts that showed off my ‘tan legs’. A black t-shirt that looked like Armin had taken scissors to it to make it hang off one shoulder. It exposed the smattering of freckles I had on my shoulders. To top it all off of course, were flip flops. ‘I did not work hard on your nails so you could hide them in your converse’, I can hear his slightly irate tone in my head, and fought the urge to run up the stairs to change. I mean there is nothing to freak out about. Only omegas are allowed in this building. No danger of being assaulted or attacked. I will be fine. They are just people like me. I take a deep breath and head inside. 

It is a lot warmer in this room, and I am thankful for Armin, just for a second, for talking me out of wearing pants. I look around at all the omegas scattered around the room. I saw the blonde muscle from the showers a couple of weeks ago. It was odd, omegas usually don’t have a lot of muscle. Better for submission I guess. I look away before he catches me staring, and I train my eyes on a group playing Clue at one of the tables. A red-headed girl, two-blondes, and a male. I start to take a step towards them, but stop myself. Do I really want to do this? Put myself out there and risk getting rejected? I think back to how lonely high school was. Never really fitting in anywhere, and nobody really trying to include me in anything. As well, I thought, it does go both ways. I have to be willing to take the first step as well. “Okay,” I whisper to myself. “I got this. Confidence.” I blow out a sight through my lips and approach the group. 

I stop about a foot away from the table. They were too absorbed in their game to note my approach. Maybe I can just stand here and they won’t notice that I came? I continue to stand there awkwardly waiting for someone to see that I am here. After what feels like an eternity, I decide to give up. If they didn’t pay attention to my approach, maybe they won’t care if I disappear as well. No, I think to myself, this is not why I came down here. I need to be more social. Not only will it help now, but it can help with my career choice with-

“Are you just going to stand there all day?” A snarky voice cut off my ramble of thoughts. I look over at the male omega, who is currently glaring daggers into my head. Well, this is starting off great. I start to play with the edge of the too short shorts. I glance down at the ground before looking back up at the male. I see his raised eyebrows; he is waiting for an answer. I feel my cheeks heat up and start to stutter out an excuse. 

“W-well… umm… hi…” I want to smack myself in the face. 

“Spit it out already.” He growls out. Before I can respond, he gets a punch in the arm from the red-head, who now has her fiery green orbs directed at the male. After staring at him for a solid minute, she turns to me with a bright expression on her face.

“Don’t mind him, he is just angry because he looks like a horse.” I hear the male huff in annoyance. I glance at him to see him cross his arms over his chest as he leans back in the chair. “My name is Isabel!” She shouts and extends her hand out. I tentatively reach out to grab her hand. She nearly breaks my hand with her firm grip, while vigorously shaking our hands up and down. I look down and see she is wearing a pretty white sundress and black flats. I tear my hand from her death grip and cross my arms. 

“Eren.”

She beams at me and introduces her companions to me. “Horse-face here is Jean,” she gestures to Jean, who gives a small wave. “This is Krista,” who she hugs to her side, bringing their cheeks together. Krista just giggles and nods in my direction. “Last but not least, this is Annie!” We both look over to the stoic looking blonde, who quietly gives me an up and down appraisal before focusing back on the Clue game. “Don’t worry about her, she doesn't even talk to the friends that she does have.” She giggles again and brings over another chair for me. 

I sit down next to Isabel, stiff as a board. They are in the middle of a game, and I feel kind of bad for interrupting it. “Is this your first year here?” I was surprised to find that question came from Jean. He did seem interested in knowing. I felt myself relax slightly as the conversation continued. 

“Yes. You?”

“We are all in our second year.” I deflate at the comment, and my shoulders slump. I was hoping that they were new to this as well. Jean saw my reaction because he tried to reassure me. “I mean, we might be a year ahead of you, but that doesn’t mean we can’t help you out or… give advice or whatever. Just don’t go asking over everything.” He has a slight dusting of pink on his cheeks, and even though he threw in the last comment, I know he means well. He might mean well, that does not save him from the fury of Isabel’s fist. She leans behind me to hit him in the same spot as earlier. “What!”

“You don’t have to be an ass about it!” She sticks her tongue out at him and turns to face me. “You can come to us as much as you want and for anything, and no matter the time!” She gives my shoulder a friendly squeeze before she resumes glaring at Jean. 

“That was me being nice,” Jean muttered under his breath, and he snatches up the dice and rolls. 

Isabel rolls her eyes and turns to me. “Would you like to join us on a fun and mystery filled night?” She sweeps her arm over the board like a game show hostess and almost smacks Krista in the face. 

“Hey, watch it!” Krista jests, while laughing. I let out a laugh of my own and nod eagerly at the proposal. Despite my protests, they start a brand new game. As the game progresses, I get to know a little bit more about each of them. Isabel spoke enthusiastically about her career choice as a French interpreter, and how she will change the lives of so many people in need of her services. Krista wants to be a psychologist, and I perk up at that piece of knowledge. Well, psychology does go hand in hand with what I want to do. I should talk to her sometime about which part she wants to specialize in. Annie states in her flat affect ‘physical therapist’, and does not say anything else after that. My gaze moves over to Jean, and I wait for him to talk. Another dusting of pink rolls over his cheeks. He mumbles something under his breath, but I can’t hear what he is trying to say. I lean in a bit to indicate that I did not hear. An irritated look crosses his face as he speaks louder. 

“Am omega specialist.” He averts his eyes as he says this. 

Oh. This is not what I was expecting. He does not seem like the type. It seems like he doesn’t want to talk about it now, so I will have to ask him about it later. I just nod at his admission and pay attention to the game. We played several more rounds before I let out a loud yawn. 

“We should all turn in, since we do have classes tomorrow.” Jean states. Isabel pouts, but relents and puts the game up. We all say our goodbyes and head to our rooms. Well, most of us do. Isabel heads out the front door and down the steps. I look up at the clock. Half an hour till curfew. Where could she be going? The others seem preoccupied with their own thoughts to notice her go. I think about going after her but change my mind. I walk over towards the door to see that she has met someone at the end of the stairs. She jumps into the arms of a tall male. A tall dark blonde male; probably an alpha. Maybe I should check on her? No, she did meet on purpose I suppose, besides, it is none of my business. I arrive back in my room to see that Armin is still gone. I change into my pajamas and check my phone. I have a text message from Petra.

**Hey, I just wanted to let you know that I got in touch with my friend about the job. You will meet them tomorrow at the campus cafe after your classes. Good luck!

I sigh and roll on my side. I know she cares about me, but I wish she would have let me do this on my own. Oh well, it was already done. Besides, it’s not like I have the job anyway. They probably just want to meet up and talk; see if I am right for the position. I get up and turn off the lights and snuggle under the covers. I toss and turn for what feels like hours. The bright light of my phone blinds me as I check the time. Ten twenty at night. I hope Armin is having fun. I am almost asleep when a part of my brain remembers something else. 

Did Isabel make it back before curfew?

***

When I woke up, Armin still wasn’t back yet. I fumble for my phone to see if he sent me a message. Looks like he sent one around one in the morning stating that he is fine and he will see me in class today. My shoulders drop in relief. What was doing up in the middle in the night anyway? What did dates even consist of now-a-days? I don’t know; I have never been on a date before. Armin did say that they have been going out for a year now, maybe- 

“Oh…” Now, I feel stupid. I feel my cheeks heat up, and I lift my hands up to cover them. They would be doing what any normal couple would in the middle of the night. I groan and fall back on the bed. I wonder how it would feel to have somebody touch me like that. I bite my lip at the thought and close my eyes. Someone caressing me softly, kissing me gently, and whispering soft things in my ear. A shiver goes down my spine, and a ball of warmth thrums gently in my pelvis. I feel my blush deepen as I snap myself out of the daydream. I have never even touched myself outside of my heats. It never seemed that appealing, but now… I quickly get up from the bed and gather my shower things. I really have to stop thinking about this. 

***

Classes seem to fly by today. I see Armin in Spanish, and he looks okay. He offers me a tentative wave before assuming the role of the diligent student. After class, I chase him down to see if he knows where the cafe is. After getting directions, I head in that right direction. When I get there, I realize that I don’t know who I am looking for. I should have asked Petra yesterday when she texted me. I look around at the people sitting at tables. Well, nobody is alone, so they can’t be who I am looking for. 

“EREN!” My heart thuds against my rib cage, and I jump in the air. I turn around to see a tall brunette staring at me from behind her glasses. They look… manic. I nod my head to indicate that I am who she is looking for. Most of the patrons are staring at us now. I can feel their eyes rake over us in confusion and bewilderment. “It is so nice to finally meet you! Petra talks about you a lot, almost like you are her own kid!” I continue to nod as they keep on talking. “Oh, silly me. My name is Hange Zoe, and yes I prefer the pronoun they or them.” Just keep nodding. They continue to speak about everything that they have done so far today. Then there is me, who just keeps nodding like an idiot, and I don’t try to stop them from talking. Finally, they stop. 

“Sorry, sometimes I get a little carried away. Let’s go inside and find a table so we can talk about our future endeavors.” They don’t even wait for me to respond. They head to the door without even looking to see if I am following them. I look down the path that leads back to my dorm. They wouldn’t notice if I left. I really want to leave. They seem scatterbrained, but Petra did tell me that they were one of the best in the field. I can learn a lot from them. I think my hesitation is not from working with someone like them, but myself. What if I can’t do it? What if I mess up? What if I mess up some of these kids worse than they already are? I don’t know. I bite my lip. What if I can’t help them? I huff at myself and straighten my shoulders back. This is why I am here. If they are one of the best in the city, this is a good opportunity for me to learn from them. Learn the ins-and-outs for the system, how to recognize that a child is in danger, and how to fight for them. I have to start somewhere, and it might as well be here. I nod to myself and look up to find Hange staring at me. 

“You done with your inner monologue?” They laugh before heading into the cafe. I can feel my cheeks heat up again, and I place my cold hands over them. I follow them into the building. It was cozy, with dim lights, comfy chairs, and shelves filled with books lining the walls. I will have to come back another time to fully appreciate the atmosphere they have created. I look around and see that Hange has chosen a booth in the back. I slide into the opposite side. They are staring at me very intently. 

“So, where are you from?” They ask. I feel my eyebrows crinkle in confusion. Didn’t Petra already talk about me to them? Well, I suppose this is a part of the process.

“Shiganshina.” 

“Oh, so far away from home! What made you decide on attending Trost?” One of the workers had made their way over to our table for our order. Hange orders a coffee that has more sugar and cream in it than actual coffee, and I order a hot chocolate. After the orders are taken and the worker leaves, Hange continues to stare at me in anticipation. 

“Well, I picked out several colleges for their social work programs, but Petra wanted to look into the safety measures and security involving omegas. I trust her, so when she said that this one was the best of omegas, I chose this one.” Hange nods and writes something down on a notepad that I just noticed was there. 

“Any prior convictions or trouble with the law?”

“No… Don’t you already know all of this? I thought Petra would have told you everything about me.”

“Oh, she did. Just doing my due diligence and double checking the facts.” They wiggle the pen in the direction of my face before they resume writing. They don’t say anything for a while. I look around the room and note that there is only one other couple. I turn back to Hange to see that they are still writing. I straighten up and try to peer at what they are writing about. They put their arm over the top, like I am trying to steal their answers for a test. I slump back in my seat. The worker brings our drinks over, and I am disappointed when I find whipped cream instead of marshmallows. I offer a soft ‘thank you’. 

“What are you writing?” I ask. I pick up the spoon that came with the chocolate drink and start to scoop the cream off onto the napkin. 

“Nothing important. So, how long were you in the system?”

“Eight years.” I do not offer up any more information.

“If you don’t mind me asking, how did you get into the system?” Their full attention is focused on me now. 

I hesitate. “My mom died when I was four. It was just my dad after that. When I started to show signs of being an omega, he left.” I look down at my half empty mug. I heard sniffling and looked up to see that Hange was holding back their tears. They scramble out of their booth and climb into mine. They squish me into a bear hug and start to rub my back.

“I am so sorry! I didn't mean to bring up any bad memories!” I push against her hug, but they have a vice grip on me. 

“It’s fine,” my voice is muffled by their shirt. I start to push again, and this time they relent and back away. “It happened a long time ago. It’s not that big of a deal.”

“It is! Did you find out what happened to your father?” I just shake my head. They continue to look at me with concern before dropping the subject. Their face turns serious as they reach over the table to grab their bag and pull out several papers. “So, I am not going to sugarcoat anything for you, this job can be extremely taxing and hard. You will see things that you wish you could never see, and that you wish that you could unsee. The most important thing is to keep your cool; especially when we are interviewing parents. You have to keep a cool, clear head. You understand?” I perk up and nod along with what they are saying. “Your job won’t be to talk so much as to write down what we are talking about and your observations. You are basically shadowing me, and you get paid to do it. Your hours will vary. On weekends, I am the one on call if a case comes up. So, tomorrow, Saturday, starting at eight a.m. we are on call, and call ends at 8 p.m on Sunday. When we are on call, the pay will be half of what you get when you are on the clock. Anytime I call you, you will meet me at the location I give you.” I continue to nod at the abundance of information they are giving me. Hange ruffles through their bag before pulling out a business card and handing it to me. “You can reach me with these numbers, try my cell first, and if that doesn’t work try Moblit.”

“Who?”

“Oh, yeah!” They laugh. “Moblit is my mate.” I hum in consideration before carefully stowing the card in my backpack. “As well,” they continue, “there is a HIPAA form we sign with every case, and I am sure you know that you cannot talk with our cases to anyone, right?” They look at me, and all I can do is nod some more. 

“Great!” They look down at their watch, and they gasp. “Boy time flies! So, starting tomorrow morning, make sure your phone is on and charged at all times!” They get up and gather all of their things in one arm and throw down a ten dollar bill. “Remember to be prepared for anything!” With that, they fly out of the cafe like a tornado. I can feel that my eyes are wide as I stare at the door. Well, that was an interesting experience. It is a lot of information. Despite the warning of what I may or may not see, I can’t help but feel excited of finally starting down the path that I have chosen. Now, I should go do my homework in case I get an early call tomorrow. I sigh just thinking about it. 

***

As I sit at my desk, all I can think about is tomorrow. Will I even get a call? A part of me hopes that I won’t. I just don’t feel like I can measure up to what I want to do. Helping these kids. Getting them out of the dangerous situations that they are in. Making sure that they get somewhere safe, and that they get the help that they need. I know that some cases will be harder than others, but I am determined to help all that I can. I just hope that I am strong enough to do it.


	3. Violentest Kind of Love

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: Mentions of child abuse and child death in this chapter.

Unsurprisingly, I don’t sleep at all. I wake up every hour or so thinking about what could happen the next day. I toss and turn. In the end, I give up on trying to sleep. I turn so that I am facing Armin to find that he is out. Lucky. I don’t mind being awake, but it is only two in the morning. At least when I am asleep, time flies by. I sigh and turn on my back to stare at the ceiling. A part of me still can’t believe that I am finally starting the career that I have been dreaming about. I mean, I still have a long way to go in terms of schooling and knowing the ins-and-outs of the system, but it is happening. I smile at the thought of finally being able to help people; kids especially. I have to stop myself from giggling from the excitement that bubbles in my chest. I quickly look over at Armin to see him still asleep. I sigh in relief when he stays unmoving in his bed. I take this moment to take a look at all of the posters he has put up over the past few weeks. There is one of Paramore, Eminem, Maroon 5, and… Twilight? Well, more specifically, of Jacob Black. Team Jacob. Huh. I knew a lot of people were raving about Twilight and about who side you were on, but I never pegged Armin as the type to like it. It was popular at my high school, and I think every girl and omega had read it. Some people raved about how romantic it was, while others tended to disagree. I don’t know, because I have never read them. I didn’t have time because I wanted to ensure that my grades were decent enough for college. I’m sure when Armin finds out that I have not read, he will surely have a powerful speech ready for why I should read them. I wonder… 

There is no doubt that Armin has copies of the books in here somewhere. I get up as quietly as I can and tiptoe over to his bookshelf. Sure enough, there was the complete series. The books were next to his series of Harry Potter and some medical texts. I don’t think he would mind me reading them. In fact, I think he would encourage it. I look over to him still asleep. Do I even want to read this? What’s the harm, it’s just a book. I crawl back in bed, and under the covers. I turned the bedside lamp on the dimmest setting before snuggling in. I took one last look at Armin before opening up the book. I sigh and almost grimace about what I am about to do. I hope this book is at least halfway decent, but if Armin likes it… I sigh again before getting lost in a teenage girl's head.

***

I must have fallen asleep at some points, because the next thing I know I am being shaken awake by an excited Armin. I rub my eyes and look up to see that he is beaming at me. He is holding the book in his hand. As soon as he sees that I am conscious, he starts to shoot questions one after the other. 

“How far have you gotten? Do you like it? What do you think of Edward? He is a creep right? What about Bella?” He has to stop to breathe, and before he can go on, I throw both of my arms up in the air to stop him. I stare at him with my eyes wide. He stares back before relaxing and sits on my bed. “I’m sorry. I just want to know what you think about it.” He waits while I gather my thoughts and try to remember what I have read. I remember that Bella passes out from the blood in Biology class, and Edward being the creep that he is happens to find her on the sidewalk and takes her to the nurse. I don’t want to disappoint Armin. I don’t mind the book. I mean, it’s not the greatest book I have ever read, but it’s not the worst either. As a friend, I am going to tell him the truth. It is just a book. 

I avert my eyes from his as I gather my thoughts. “Well, Bella is… kinda boring, and she complains a lot. Edward semms stalkerish and weird. It’s not… the worst book ever. Do you like it?” I look at him to see him happier than he was before. “What?”

“I’m just glad.” He wiggles in excitement. “I don’t really like them either.” He states before handing the book back to me. He gets up and goes to his own bed and looks at me again. I point to the poster in confusion. He looks over at the poster before laughing. “I just like the way he looks. I wasn’t all-” He stops midway through his sentence. I look at his face to see that the happiness from earlier is gone. Now he is the one who is avoiding eye contact. 

“You weren’t what?” I press. 

“It’s nothing.” He lets out a big sigh before changing the subject. “Have you seen any of the movies? Some of the other omegas want to have a movie night soon featuring the Twilight films if you want to join.” He seems small now. He seems… less himself; more subdued. I continue to stare at him in hopes that he will open up to me on his own, but he remains quiet and still. If it is important, he will open up to me about it. I hope. 

“Sounds… fun. Do I have to read all the books before we do or not?” 

He shakes his head. “Oh, no. Half the people in the group haven’t read them either.” I sigh with relief before throwing the book over my shoulder. 

“Hey!” Armin yells before coming over to retrieve his book. “It might suck, but it is still a book. Treat it with respect.” 

“Yes, sir.” I salute him before breaking out in laughter. He rolls his eyes at me and places the book back in its rightful place on the shelf. “Does anyone in the group happen to like Twilight?” He snorts and nods his head. 

“Let’s just say, don’t let Isabel know that you don’t like them. She is convinced that everyone should like them, and she watches them at least once a week. She is a ride or die Twilight fan. You should see her room, all of her posters are of Twilight. I think she would even get the Edward action figure if it didn’t make Furlan so jealous.” Furlan? I wonder if that was the male she met up with the other night. Armin must have read the confusion on my face, because he clarified “Furlan is Isabel’s boyfriend. Well, practically mates. According to Isabel, they have spent a lot of her heats together. She said the other day that she really wants to complete the bonding, but for some reason, he doesn’t want to do it yet. Apparently, she asked him officially the other night if they could do it, and he said no.” An image of Isabel leaping into a man’s arms flashes through my mind. Did she ask him then?

“When did you find all of this out?” 

“Yesterday, when you were off on your job escapade. I found her crying in the ground floor restroom. Trying to hide from her roommate I suspect.” He looks down in thought. I get another image of Isabel in my head, but this time it’s of her bright green eyes glistening with tears. I feel a hot wave of anger roll through my body. 

“Why would he reject her?” It comes out snappy.

“I wouldn’t know, I’m not Furlan. Of course, now she isn’t talking to him at all.” 

“She must feel awful though. I can’t imagine the one person who I know I am going to be with, rejecting me like that. Is she doing alright?” It is a dumb question. Of course she isn’t doing okay. 

“As she can be. Now they aren’t talking to each other. Well, she isn’t talking to him, and that is making her even more miserable.” I just nod. I can’t imagine how hurt Isabel is right now. I wonder how long they have been together? If they know they are going to be together, what is holding him back? It’s obvious that Isabel wants to, and you would think that an alpha would want to claim what is theirs. “So, you can expect the movie night to be sooner than you think, due to the situation.” I nod again, and we fall into a comfortable silence. 

This is what I mean when it comes to loving someone. You give them their all and then they do something like that without giving a reason. Furlan must know how much Isabel wants to mate, and how much it means to her. What could be more important than your mate? I guess I shouldn’t judge too much, I don’t know the entire situation. Maybe he is not ready for the full commitment yet. Maybe he is like me and is afraid that it won’t work out in the end. Mating is for life. You have to be absolutely sure that the person you choose is the right one for you; there can be no doubt. I can’t fault him about the decision if he has doubts. Even so, if he was having doubts, why didn’t he just tell her that? There has to be another reason. But what? I guess it doesn’t matter. It is none of my business, and I am sure that they will sort it out soon enough. If they have been together for awhile, how long can Isabel go without any contact from her alpha? I sigh. I don’t know that either, since I don’t really know Isabel. Oh well, there is nothing I can do to fix it. 

I look at my phone to see that it’s almost nine in the morning. Well, the waiting game begins. What do people do when they are on call? Anything, I guess. I look over to see that Armin is working on some homework. I can try to take a nap, since I didn’t get much sleep last night. I thought better of it. I probably shouldn’t. I got most of my homework done last night. I don’t really want to do any more homework, but if there is nothing el-

My thoughts are interrupted by the ringing of my phone. A wave of unease goes through my body as I look at the caller ID. Unknown. I hesitate for a few seconds, and Armin looks over at me in curiosity. I answer.

“Eren, it’s time!” I hear Hange yell. “I got a call about an hour ago from Trost Children’s Hospital. Then, I remembered that I forgot to ask for your number yesterday, so I had to call Petra to get it. I hope you don’t mind. Well, of course you wouldn’t.” They kept on talking for the next several minutes. Going round and round on the same subject. Should I interrupt them? They are talking in circles after all. 

“Hange!” I yell to get their attention, and they stop talking immediately. “I get it. It’s fine. How else were you going to get a hold of me? Anyway, where do I meet you at the hospital?”

“Straight to the point I see. We will meet in the east parking lot. I drive a dark blue truck. I usually park in the very back corner of the parking lot. How long do you think it will take for you to get here?”

“I have to take the bus, so maybe thirty minutes?” I give them a time frame, even though I have no idea how long it will take. I grimace to myself, and hope it doesn’t take much longer than the time frame I gave them. They laugh before answering me. 

“Alright, see you in a little bit!” They hang up, and I stare at my phone. I haven’t used the buses in the city since I got here. I look up at Armin to see that he is staring at me. 

“Do you know anything about the bus routes around here?” His eyes bug open and then rolls them.

“Yeah. I have a bus schedule. Where are you going?” 

“Trost Children’s Hospital. East parking lot.” How big is this hospital anyway? Where I come from, there is just one parking lot for Shiganshina Hospital. To have an East parking lot? How many do they have? Trost is significantly bigger, and they have a hospital designated just to children. Another wave of disease courses through me. 

“Oh, you don’t need the buses then.” He chirps. I look at him in confusion. He laughs at my expression. “Trost Children’s Hospital is just ten blocks from campus. You can walk there and get there in about twenty minutes.” A surge of relief passes through me. I will be able to make it on time. I get up and dress in presentable clothes. Are jeans okay? Well, I don’t have anything dressier, so they will have to do. Armin gives me directions, because, of course, the future pediatrician knows where the hospital is. He says that when I get to the hospital, there should be signs with directions to the East parking lot. I nod, swing my bag over my shoulder and wave as I exit our room. The walk to the hospital seems to take forever. My mind won’t stop going through every possible situation that I can be walking into. The fact that I don’t know what I am walking into is scary. No matter how many calming things I think to myself, my nerves won’t settle down. My mouth is busy chewing my bottom lip off of my face. The unease won’t go away, and it only increases when I see the signs of the hospital. Armin was right when he said it easy to follow the signs. To my dismay, it takes little to no time to reach the right parking lot. I stop to scan the lot for Hange’s truck. I see that it's right where they said it would be. I stand there for another minute. Am I really able to do this? I should choose a profession that doesn’t include dealing with people, but what job would that be. The little voice in my head is making me second guess myself about my life choices. I shake my head and walk over to Hange’s truck. They hop out of the drivers side with a messenger bag over their shoulder. 

“Hey, glad you made it on time by bus.” They look me over before smirking. I feel my cheeks heat up. 

“Uh…” I start but they interrupt with a laugh. 

“Don’t worry about it. I knew you would figure it out eventually. So, here is a temporary badge until we can get you a permanent one.” They hand me a plastic card with the logo of the hospital on the front, and it has ‘temporary’ printed beneath it. “So, all of the entrances require a badge for entry. For the elevators, they use magnetic badge readers for them to work. So, if you don’t have your badge, they won’t work. There are twelve floors in this hospital, and each unit is locked. Again, you use your badge to gain access to them. Do not let anyone in, and I repeat do not let anyone in. Any visitors have to use the telephone outside of each unit. If they are cleared for entry, the nurses will let them in. Obviously, some people are restricted from visiting, so they call the nurse’s station; we don’t make that call.” I nod along. 

“To get you a proper badge, we get that through human resources. In order to do that, we go through human resources. So, you will have to make an appointment with them sometime in the next couple of weeks. Anyway, the call I got this morning was for a five year old male. When they call me, that is about all the information I get. We will get more information from the nurses and doctor when we get inside. Since you are technically an intern, you won’t be doing much; listening and writing down notes. We will talk to the patient and parents separately. We want the child to feel that they are free to talk about what is happening at home without any fear of repercussions.” I nod again, and they start to walk across the parking lot and to the entrance of the hospital. “For the first couple of months, you will be observing how the system works and the process of interviewing people.” Oh god, just the thought of interviewing people. I feel nauseous. They see my expression and bust out laughing. “You won’t be interviewing people for a long while. You do have the chance to observe me, and you will learn to observe people as well, trust me. You will end up doing it, even if you aren’t on the clock. The key is to not be aggressive in your questioning.” We enter the building. There is a security desk off to the side with two males, both alpha by the smell, sitting in chairs. They immediately stand up when we enter. 

“Hange, long time no see!” The man with light brown hair yells at Hange. He welcomes us with a big smile.

“Nice to see you again too, Dita!” Hange exclaims, and they push me forward. “This is Eren Jaeger, he is my new intern. Eren this is Dita and that is Klaus.” Hange points at the other male as if there were more people in the lobby. I give them an awkward wave and smile. “I’m sure you know that I can’t stay and chat. Do you know where the kid is?” 

“Emergency room.” Hange nods before waves at them in parting.

“I’ll see you guys later!” We walk out of the lobby and down a long, narrow hallway. As we walk, they continue to talk. “So, the entrance to the emergency room is on the west side of the building. They have a security post over at that entrance as well. When we have to be here at night, the only entrance open will be the emergency room; the east entrance closes at ten at night. From the entrance we just went through, it’s pretty easy to get to the emergency room.” We reach the end of the hallway before going through glass double doors and down a couple of steps. We turn left and continue down another hallway. “So, are you excited for your first day!?” 

“Umm… not so much excited as I am nervous.” My bottom lip is now red and swollen from earlier, and I have to stop myself from chewing on it. It feels hot now. Should’ve brought my chapstick. 

“That is perfectly normal! I threw up on my first day.” They casually state before turning right and stopping at another set of double doors. This time they were wooden with no windows. “This is it. Any questions before we go in?” Of course, my mind goes blank as soon as they ask the question. I just shake my head. “I understand, and I am sure that you will have questions later.” They dig their badge out of their bag and place it over a black detecter on the wall by the door. The doors make a ‘click’ sound before opening automatically. Once the doors open, I can hear the hustle and bustle of the department. I can hear babies crying, someone shouting orders, and the beeping of monitors over the low hum of normal conversation. The emergency department is a long room with a very high ceiling that has skylights scattered throughout. The layout is simple: rooms on either side, the other entrance is directly in front of us on the other side of the room, there are four pods in front of the rooms on each side and four open rooms in the middle of the room. Looks like ten rooms on each side. Immediately to our right, are two more rooms, and they say critical care above both doorways. On our left, there is another room. “This room to our left is the psych room. They put patients in there who are a danger to themselves of others.” Hange explains. “The pods you see on each side are desks basically. There are usually three nurses, one ward clerk, one doctor, and one nurse practitioner for each side. Obviously, the doctors take on the more serious cases that enter the emergency room, while the nurse practitioner takes on mild cases such as sore throats, cough, insect bites, and primarily non emergency cases.” Hange turns right and walks between the rooms and pods. They stop at one of the middle pods to talk to a brown haired girl. 

“Hey, Hange.” Is the dull greeting we get. Hange doesn’t pay attention to the mood of the girl and continues to be their excited self.

“Good morning Sasha! How are you on this fine day?” Sasha gives Hange a dead stare before replying. 

“Well, I walked into work this morning with absolutely nothing done by the night shift. I had to restock everything, and I still have this doctor beside me yellin orders at me even though I am not a nurse.” There is an empty seat next to her. I guess it is taken by the doctor she is talking about. Hange laughs.

“Well, I certainly hope that your day gets better. This here is Eren, and he will be helping me out for the foreseeable future.” Hange points to me. I do another awkward wave and let out a ‘hello’. “Anyway, do you know where my services are needed today?” The question sobers Sasha. She glances over at room sixteen. Hange and I look over as well. Each room has sliding glass doors with a curtain on the inside. We can’t see into room sixteen at all. The door is closed and the curtain is drawn tight. “You will want to talk to Mikasa before you go in. She is pod three.” Hange nods before walking down to what I assume is pod three. There is no one at the desk. I turn to look at Hange.

“Is this the right one?”

“Yeah. She is more than likely in a room. We will just wait for her here.” They take their bag and put it under the desk. “You can put your stuff under here as well.” I get a notebook and pen out of my bag before putting it with Hange’s. “Okay, so everybody does this process differently, but I usually get a report from the nurse first before I talk to anybody else. The nurse is almost always the one who knows the most about the situation, since they spend more time with the patient than anyone else. After that, I talk with the doctor about labs, radiology reports, and what they think happened. Next, is the parents and the child. Separately, of course.” As we are talking, a woman with black hair walks over and sits at the desk. 

“Hange.” The girl says in a monotone voice. “Glad you’re here. Who is this?” The girl stares at me, and I feel as if she is staring into my soul. 

“This is Eren. He is my intern, so be nice to him. Eren, this is Mikasa, the nurse we will be talking with.” Great. 

“Hello, I’m Eren.” As if she didn’t know who I was. She continues to stare at me. I can feel her evaluating me; judging my worth. She just hums to herself before turning back to Hange. 

“You might want to start writing now. Mikasa can talk very fast. Also, do not write down any identifying information. Oh, before I forget, here is the HIPAA form that I need you to sign.” They pull put a piece of paper from their own notebook, and I sign it. I nod to them both to signal I am ready.

“The patient is a five year old male, Tanner Cox. He was brought in today by ambulance. Patient’s parents stated that he ‘fell down some stairs’. As a result of the ‘fall’, he lost consciousness. Parents are unsure if he hit his head. Vitals are stable on room air. No past history of illness of surgeries. Patient has regained consciousness, and is alert and oriented. Upon physical examination, the patient is covered with multiple bruises and cuts in various stages of healing, that is not consistent with the parents story. We drew labs that are not back yet, and are waiting for the cat scan tech to get him for a CT of the head and abdomen. Parents are not very attentive. They say that he has ‘behavioral problems’, but the kid has been nothing but sweet to me.” She speaks in a very precise, factual tone. I’m having trouble keeping up. I try to keep my notes vague. I will have Hange look them over before we leave. Someone calls out for Mikasa’s help in another room, and she leaves. 

“So, we have the background information on the patient. With no labs or imaging back, I doubt the doctor will know more. It never hurts to ask though. Hey Sasha! Which doctor has room sixteen?”

“Pixis!” Sasha yells back. Hange nods in thanks, and begins to walk around the department in search of the doctor. We stop in front of a bald man. He is an older alpha. 

“Why hello Hange, always lovely to see you!” He gives Hange a kind smile.

“You, too! So, what can you tell me about the patient in room sixteen?” Hange focuses well when on the job. Meeting them in person was a little off putting. They are very exuberant. I thought that working with them would be more laid back, but it isn’t. They avoid almost all of the small talk, and they get to the point with every conversation. Well, when a child’s life depends on you and how fast you get things done, you don’t have time to waste. 

“I am sure you got most of the information from Ms. Mikasa. Let me see if any of the labs are back yet.” He turns to his computer and starts to go through what looks like a computer chart. “They are back, and it looks like his hemoglobin is a little low. His kidney function is slightly off and suggests dehydration, but nothing too major seems to be off with the labs. Just waiting on the image now.” If the child lost consciousness, why isn’t the imaging done yet? I am about to voice my question to Hange, when they beat me to it. 

“Why isn’t the CT done yet?” Their tone is authoritative; they want answers. Pixis lets out a sigh.

“There was a stat trauma, car crash, that came in. They hold priority, but sixteen is next on the list. In the meantime, I am going to give them some IV fluids. I will probably admit him for observation regardless of what the CT says.” Hange nods and takes their own notes.

“Alright. I will go talk to the parents first. Is the bereavement room open?”

“I believe so. There have been no deaths today, so it should be open.” Hange nods at his response before thanking him and we walk back to Mikasa’s desk.

“Okay. So, now we will take the parents to a different room and question them there. With parents, you have to be very careful with your questioning. You don’t want to come off as accusing. We are not here to accuse them of anything, we just to get their side of the story. After we are done with the parents, we will have them stay in that room and question the patient. After we talk with both of them, I will decide if it is safe or not for the parents to return to the room.” I nod, but something is bothering me. 

“He lost consciousness after a fall, and we don’t have any imaging to know what is going on. So, is it safe to leave him all alone for an uncertain amount of time? What if something changes, and no one is there to catch it?” Mikasa and Hange stare at me, look at each other, and then stare at me again. Did I say something wrong? It doesn’t seem right to leave him in a room with no way to tell anybody if something is wrong, if he can tell something is wrong. He is only five. 

“That is a good point. Mikasa, do you have anyone to sit with the patient while we talk to the parents?” I feel a flutter of happiness in my chest. I was right about something at least. Mikasa shakes her head. 

“No, we are a CNA short today, and I have four patients on my team.” Hange nods and goes quiet in thought. 

“Well, Eren, I was really hoping to show you the whole process today, but don’t think that is going to happen.” They sigh. “I am going to have you sit with the patient. I will show you my notes and discuss with you when I am done.” I freeze.

“I have never even babysat before!” I am surprised about how loud my voice comes out. “I mean, how will I know if something is wrong with him? What do I do if something happens?” Hange just smiles at me and puts their hands on my shoulders. 

“You can do this. Any change in his mentation, and you just call out to someone out here. There is always at least one person out here that can help you. I will be done before you know it. Just keep him talking, and do not let him go to sleep in case he has a concussion.” I nod, still a little dumbfounded. Keep him awake, I can do that. Hange and I walk to room sixteen, and I feel nauseous again for what seems like the hundredth time today. They knock on the door before sliding it open and stepping inside. I follow in right behind her. 

The parents are… exactly what Mikasa said. Both of them are preoccupied with their phones, and don’t even look up when we enter the room. Their clothes look second hand and have some questionable stains on them. The mother’s hair is a tangled mess on top of her head. The man is unkempt, with messy hair and wrinkled clothes. Neither one of them are paying any attention to the person on the bed. The child, Tanner, whips his head towards the door and immediately winces after the action. I can hear the heart monitor speed up. I can see what Mikasa was talking about in regards to the bruising. The staff has changed him into one of the hospital gowns for easier access for treatments. I can see that his arms are covered in bruises of all colors: yellow, blue, purple, and there is even some green. There are also some bruises peeking out from the collar of the gown. There is no way that all of this happened with just one fall down some stairs. Tanner notices me staring at his bruise. He nervously glances at his parents before looking down at the covers. I’m sure that Hange can see what I see, but they don’t comment on it. Instead, they get the parent’s attention by clearing their throat. The couple looks annoyed at being interrupted.

“Hello, my name is Hange Zoe, and I am from the Child and Family Services Agency.” Hange extends their hand out in greeting, and the man looks at it before offering his own in a handshake. 

“Child and Family Services? Why did they call you? The kid just fell down some stairs after throwin’ a tantrum.” I can hear the anger creeping up in the man’s voice, and I see Tanner in the bed curl into himself. Yeah, something is not right. Hange takes all of his questions in stride and offers the man a big smile. 

“Oh, it’s just their job to call whenever they suspect something is off. I am just here to get your side of the story.”

“And if we don’t want to talk to you?” The man puffs his chest out to try and intimidate us. I shuffle a little bit more behind Hange, and it doesn’t seem to affect them at all. 

“Trust me, Sir, it would be in you best interest if you went with me to answer some questions about what happened to Tanner today.” There is an edge in Hange’s voice. “If you don’t answer any of my questions or cooperate with the investigation, I will be forced to contact the appropriate people to get a court order to speak with you and your family. Believe me, if you don’t answer my questions, it will not be in your favor when making the final decision. So, it’s best if you come with me to talk.”

The father seems to mull over what Hange has just told him. He looks over at his female companion before nodding in agreement. “Fine, we will go with you.” He doesn’t sound at all happy about going to speak with Hange. 

“Whatever, we’re tellin’ you that the kid is just clumsy. He falls all the time.” Chimes in a high pitched voice. This came from the mother, who receives a glare from her male counterpart. The annoyed expression is wiped off of her face, and she tilts her head in submission. Yeah, not right at all. I look over at Tanner again, to find him staring back at me. Once our eyes lock, he looks away again. 

“What about the omega?” I can feel the man’s eyes rake over my body. I keep my eyes averted as my cheeks heat up at being looked at in such a way. 

“Oh, this is Eren, and he will be staying with Tanner while we talk. He is here to monitor your son while we are away.” 

“He is not goin’ to ask him any questions is he? I don’t want him asking any questions.” He starts to let out some of his pheromones, and I find myself suffocating on his heady, acrid scent. My eyes start to water, and I have to force myself not to submit to this man. Thankfully, Hange starts to speak again.

“Oh, no. Eren is not here to ask any questions. He is just here to make sure that your son doesn’t fall asleep. Now, if you will just follow me, I will take you to a separate room for the interview.” Hange waves them over and slides open the door. The man stands in place for another minute, just staring at me. I somehow find the courage to stare at this man in the eyes. This man, who I know has done some horrible things to this little boy. I know that I am supposed to wait until the investigation is over to make a decision, but I know. This man is not a nice one. Yes, kids might be clumsy, but not this clumsy. Yes, kids get bruises on their own, but not this many. Something else is going on here, and I hope that I am transmitting that message with my eyes. He stares at me for another moment before letting out a growl and moving towards the door.

“Come on Arlene.” The mother scampers to catch up with her mate. All three of them leave the room, and I feel my shoulder sag in relief. I look over to find Tanner staring at me again. He is looking at me with that child-like curiosity that only kids possess. I don’t know if I should stand here awkwardly or go take a seat next to the bed. Well, I do have to keep him awake, and the best way to do that would be to talk to him. I walk over to the side of the bed and sit in the chair. I don’t know what to say. 

“Hey, I’m Eren.” I reach out for a handshake, but he just stares at it. “How old are you?” The answer I get is a hand being held up to display five fingers. I smile at him. “Wow, you are so big!” He gives me a small smile back. “I bet you know your numbers and all of the colors!” He lets out a giggle and eagerly nods his head.

“Yeah, we just learned in school!” He then proceeds to name off all the colors that he knows. I continue to smile at him while he does. He goes quiet after a while; running out of colors. 

“What about your numbers?” He can go up to ten, but that’s okay, he has plenty of time to learn the rest. I help him with the numbers that come after ten. He has some trouble with the pronunciation, but it’s close enough in the end. 

“You smell good.” His statement catches me off guard. No one had ever mentioned my scent before. I guess it would make sense for him to notice. He is a little boy who has gone through some unimaginable things, and I am an omega. I am supposed to be caring and nurturing. He would want to cling to any form of safety, no matter how small it is. 

“Yeah, and what do I smell like?”

“Like apples!” I let out a laugh at his enthusiastic reply. I knock sounds at the door, and both of our heads snap over to see who it is. 

“Hello, I am Adam, and I am the CT tech. I am going to do a head and abdomen CT on the patient. Is he ready?” I have no idea what he means by ‘ready’. I assume Tanner is ready, so I nod. The tech opens the curtain and the door all the way open before approaching the bed. I get up and move the chair out of the way. Tanner gets unhooked from the cardiac monitor. As the tech starts to move the bed forward, Tanner sits straight up in bed. 

“You come with me?” He looks at me with puppy eyes, and reaches out one of his hands towards me. I can’t help but want to go with him to ease his discomfort. I look at the tech, who just shrugs his shoulders and nods. I take Tanner’s hand, and he bounces in happiness. I huff out a laugh. We move down to the double doors that Hange and I entered through earlier. We go through them and make right. The CT room is at the end of the hall.

“Alright, buddy. We are here. Your friend can’t stay by your side, but he will be behind that glass over there, so you can see him.” The tech explains. I nod, and Tanner reluctantly lets go of my hand. 

“It will be alright. I will be just over there.” I point over to where the divider stands. Tanner nods, and we move him over to the CT table. As he moves from the stretcher to the table, and can see how bruised his back is from the opening in the gown. The tech and I give each other a look before walking behind the divider. Adam heads over to his desk to start his work. I look over at Tanner to see that he is facing me. We wave at each other. Behavioral problems my ass; he is sweet. Since Tanner was fidgety, it took several tries to get the scans done. Once the tech was satisfied with the images, we were on our way back to the room.

“Our radiologist will read them, and they will be back as soon as they can.” Adam says as he hooks Tanner back up to the monitor. I nod and look over at Tanner, whose eyes are now unfocused. I look over at the tech, who seems to have noticed it as well. 

“Tanner.” I say as I shake him, but he does not snap out of it. I try saying his name a little louder while waving my hands in front of his face. A wave of panic runs through me, and I feel my chest get submerged in ice cold water. As the tech tries to rouse Tanner, I look up at the monitor to see that his heart rate is in the thirties. That can’t be good. I leave the room in search of someone who can help. I spot Mikasa at her desk. “Mikasa! Something is wrong!” Her head snaps over to look at me, and she runs into the room. She does all of the things I tried. She attaches a blood pressure cuff on him and checks the monitor. He is now in the twenties, and his blood pressure is so low. Mikasa pushes a blue button on the wall, and then chaos ensues. 

“Code blue room sixteen, code blue room sixteen.” I hear via overhead paging. About four other people rush into the room, and one with a cart. Mikasa presses a button on the bed that immediately lays the bed flat, and she begins to do compressions on his little chest. So much is going on at one time. I get shoved into one of the corners of the room, unable to get out. Pixis is at the head of the bed trying to put a tube down the patient’s throat. So many things are being shouted around the room. I want to get out of here. I don’t want to watch this. Looking at his lifeless body jerking under the weight of Mikasa’s compressions is too much. A hand grabs my arms, and I look over to Hange staring at me with an alarmed expression. They drag me out of the room and away from the dire situation in the room. I can still hear people shouting at each other from the room. Hange sits me down at Mikasa’s desk. 

“What happened!?” They ask.

“I-I don’t know. He was f-fine when we went to the CT room, but w-when we got back he wasn’t. I just don’t know…” They nod their head in understanding before turning their attention to the room; watching them work on the patient, on Tanner. Was there something that I missed? I try to think back at any other possible signs that showed something was off. 

“This does happen sometimes, and we just have to wait to see the outcome. Just know Eren, that you did nothing wrong, and you did nothing to cause this.” I can only nod. It was my job to look after him, and I can’t help but feel that I failed. I turn away from the room. I can’t watch this. They work on him for another thirty minutes before calling time of death. After the staff get the room and Tanner cleaned up, they all exit the room. Mikasa's eyes are misty, and I can’t imagine losing a patient, let alone a child. Pixis goes to stand by her. 

“Pixis! You have a call on line two.” I hear Sasha say. Pixis sighs before picking up the phone. I tune out his conversion and focus on the closed door of room sixteen. After a while, I hear him hang up the phone. He turns to us.

“He has a massive brain bleed with midline shift. Additionally, he had some internal bleeding in his abdomen. It’s a miracle that he lasted as long as he did.” I nod along like I know what he is talking about. By the looks on the others' faces, they seem to know exactly what he is talking about. “I am going to talk to the family.” He walks away. Hange turns towards me. 

“What is a midline shift?” I ask. 

Hange hesitated with her answer. “It’s when the pressure in the brain is so great that the brain shifts off center. In the brain, the blood has nowhere to go, so it builds up.” I nod. Probably from a beating that he got from his father. I feel white hot with anger now. It’s not right. Why did he have to die? It wasn’t his fault he got stuck with shitty parents.

“I know what you are thinking Eren, but we will get them.” I look at Hange and their reassuring expression. Yeah, they should have enough to lock up his parents, but that still doesn’t make it right. They should have the same outcome that their child had. I feel Hange give me a side hug. “We will get them.” I can only nod. I hope they do. It is silent after that. The silence is broken by a grieving howl. The whole department goes silent. I guess they did love them, even though they used him as a punching bag. I don’t want to be here anymore.

“Can I go?” Hange gives me a sympathetic look before nodding.

“Yes, of course you can. I won’t call you for anymore cases this weekend. We will start fresh next week, okay?” I gather my things and walk away without offering a goodbye. I don’t remember the walk back to campus. I feel numb, and I probably looked like a zombie walking down the street. I only stop when I am in front of the door to my room. I just stare at it. He was such a sweet kid. With his whole life ahead of him.

“Eren, are you alright?”

He could have done so many things, but now he can’t. He can’t because he is dead. He can’t move, breathe, laugh, or smile ever again. He won’t go to college or get a job. He won’t get married or have kids. His body will now be stuck underground and-

“Eren!” I look up to see Jean standing beside me. “Are you okay? You are letting out some distress pheromones.” I stare at him trying to form a sentence, but all I end up doing is bursting into tears. I can feel the hot tears making trails down my cheeks, and the snot running out of my nose. I can’t catch my breath. Jean looks alarmed and immediately starts to pound the door shouting for Armin. Armin flings the door open and stares at us.

“What did you do!?” He glares at Jean. Armin gently takes my arm and leads me into the room. “Take some deep breaths Eren. Come on, you can do it.”

“I didn’t do anything! I found him staring at the door all depressed, and then he just burst into tears!” I try to slow my breathing down, but everytime I think I have it under control, it starts all over again. I let out a strangled groan that sounds like a dying animal. Calm down. Stop crying. Ugh. Armin makes me sit on my bed and sits beside me. 

“What happened?” He sounds so worried, and I feel bad for making him worried. 

“I-I’m f-fine. D-don’t w-worry about-” I am interrupted by another round of sobs. Jean is still frozen by the door. Armin looks up at him.

“You can go now.” Jean hesitates before leaving us alone. I furiously wipe my eyes in an effort to stop the tears, but they just keep coming. I want out of this room. I want to be away from people. 

“I-I want t-to take a-a shower..” I manage to get out.

“Are you sure? You don’t want to wait a little bit?” I shake my head. “Okay.” He guides me down the hall and to the showers. “Go ahead and do your thing, and I will bring some clothes in a little while.” I wait till he leaves to undress. I turn the water on hot. I stand there for a minute before sinking to the floor, and I bring my knees into my chest. The steady flow of tears has slowed. I can feel that my eyes are swollen. I let out a shuddered breath before relaxing against the wall. Well, what a way to be introduced into the world of social services. How do they deal with this? I stare at the tiled wall in front of me. The tears finally stop. Why is the world like this? Why are people the way they are? I know that my first day didn’t go as planned, but I find that I am more determined now to do this now. I feel a spark of anger at the thought of the injustice that happened today, and I find myself glaring at the wall. I want to help as many kids as I can, and I plan to do just that.


	4. No Please, Stay Here

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: Mentions of drug use.

Over the next week, Armin hardly leaves my side. I think he is afraid that I will break down again. Truthfully, I am afraid of it as well. I don’t know how people who see death on a regular basis deal with it in an effective way. Maybe they become numb to it after a while. I suppose death is a normal process for the careers that some people have chosen, but to watch a child die… How can someone watch that on a daily basis? Just remembering Tanner’s bright smile is enough to make my eyes water. I roll my eyes towards the ceiling and blink my eyelids rapidly in an effort to stop the tears. It works, and the stinging in my nose and eyes goes away. I don’t know if it’s my omega side that has turned me into a basket case, or if it’s the fact that my heat is a couple of weeks away. The crying has definitely decreased since the beginning of the week, but I just want it to stop. I spoke with Hange a couple of days ago, and they said that the funeral was held yesterday. I decided not to go, and I regretted it later on. It would have been awkward, right? I mean a total stranger bawling his eyes out for a kid he hardly knew. Am I even allowed to go to the funerals? I’ll have to ask Hange about it the next time I see them. Armin has been a great friend though. Always trying to cheer me up. He says that he has a surprise for me after classes today. I wonder what it could be? Who knows, but at least he is treating me somewhat like a normal person. I think Jean might have told the others about my breakdown. They have been treating me like I might break down at any moment. Isabel came to me the next day with tears in her own eyes. Whether it was because of me or Furlan that made here upset, still has not been determined. She decided that it was time for a movie night, and she proceeded to gather everyone to watch Twilight. It was… interesting to say the least.

While Isabel and Krista were making heart eyes at the screen, Jean complained the whole time. Annie was on her phone. Armin was too preoccupied with me, and I was too preoccupied with my thoughts to really pay attention to what was going on. Isabel finally snapped at Jean and gave him the longest lecture about what makes this series great. She even threatened him with another Twilight night when the next one came out on DVD. He shut up after that. In a way, the night did cheer me up a little bit. I let out a breathy laugh thinking about their antics. 

“Something funny, Mr. Jaeger?” I snap my head up to look at Kitz Woermann, my Public Speaking and Writing teacher. I shake my head and stutter out a response.

“N-nothing.” He stares at me for a minute longer, making the atmosphere uncomfortable. He finally looks away to address the rest of the class. 

“It is important to pay attention when I am giving out an assignment.” I feel my face heat up as he continues. “As I was saying before I was interrupted.” Another glare sent my way. “I will be assigning each of you a partner. With this partner, you will complete a ten page paper about one of the subjects from the list that I gave you.” I glance down at my desk to find that a piece of paper has made its way onto it. I slump down in my chair when I feel Mr. Woermann stare again. “So, you and your partner will complete the paper and give the class a ten minute presentation on the subject that you have chosen.” His eyes sweep over the class to see if they are all paying attention. Once he is satisfied that we have all heard him, he goes on to name partners. As he lists off the groups, I hear some people gasp in excitement and groan in disappointment. I glance around the room to find that I don’t really know any of the people in this class. Well, I guess it will be nice to be around someone who won’t treat me like glass. “Eren Jaeger and Reiner Braun.” I peek around to see that a blonde male is staring at me. It that Reiner? I give him a tentative wave and smile. He gives me an ear to ear smile before paying attention to Woermann again. Reiner seems friendly enough. I realize that he is one of the omegas that live in my dorm building. Well muscled for an omega. Some omegas hate the fact that they are supposed to be these delicate creatures that need saving. Maybe he is one of those? I am brought out of my thoughts by Woermann dismissing the class. I gather my things and exit as quickly as I can before and if Woermann decides to talk to me some more. I find that Reiner is waiting outside of the classroom. 

“Hey, man!” He greets me with a bear hug. I freeze at the contact, and squirm my out of the forced hug. “Sorry, I am just excited that it’s another omega.” 

“It’s okay.” I nod and smile before walking down the hall to my next class, and Reiner is right beside me. 

“So, when do you want to meet to start the project? I kind of want to get started on it right away. I don’t have the best track record with getting assignments done on time, so I want to work on it as soon as possible.” I nod in understanding.

“Yeah, I agree with starting it as soon as we can.” I think over my schedule for the next couple of days. I will be with Armin tonight, and I work over the weekend. “I probably won’t be able to meet until Monday after classes. Is that alright with you?” I feel nervous that we won’t be able to meet sooner, but he gives me another smile. 

“Don’t worry about, man! Monday is good with me. It will give as some time to think about which topic we would like to do.” My shoulders relax, and I give him a more confident smile. 

“Yeah, that sounds good!” I find myself giving him a more genuine smile. I can see myself being good friends with him. While I continue to walk, I dig out a piece of paper and pen from my backpack. I hastily write down my phone number and give it to him. “I know we live in the same building, but here is my number so we can figure out a time to meet later.” He takes it before heading in the opposite direction. 

“See you later!” He shouts.

“Bye!” I yell back. I stare a his back for a minute before turning to head towards my next class. He is a little touchy for my taste, but some people are like that. I actually can’t wait to get started on the project. I am smiling as I enter my next class. I see Armin in the front row as always and an empty seat next to him. Armin spots me as I enter, and he beams at me. I know that I am not supposed to talk about the cases with anyone, but I had to tell Armin. I know that he wouldn’t tell anyone about it, but I had to tell someone about it. You can’t keep something like that bottled up and expect to be okay. I told him after the Twilight movie night. He cried with me as I told him the entirety of it. I feel warmth bloom in my chest at the thought. I don’t know how Armin feels about me, but I think it’s safe to say that he is my best friend. I trust him. I find myself smiling brighter at him before taking my seat next to him.

***

The rest of the day seems to last forever. This would be the first time that someone actually planned a sunrise for me voluntarily. I mean, the foster families that I had would give me gifts on my birthday and at Christmas, but if it wasn’t expected of them, they generally didn’t go out of their way to get me a gift. I found myself running through all of the things that it could be. What was the point in guessing? It could be anything. I guess that I just have to wait to find out. I sigh as I reach my dorm room. Armin is waiting for me there. When he notices that I am back, he bounces over to me. 

“I have been waiting for this all day!” He beams at me before checking his phone. “You will be so surprised! Come on we better get going!” His excitement is contagious. I am smile bigger than I have in a while, and I start to jump up and down with Armin. We wave as Isabel as we exit the building. “So, it si a little bit of a walk, but I figured it would do us some good.” I nod in agreement. As we walk, I tell Armin about the project I will be doing with Reiner. 

“Have you talked to him before?” I ask. 

“Not really, but he doesn’t seem that bad. He keeps to himself most of the time.” I nod. We continue on our walk to downtown Trost. I have never been window shopping before, but I can definitely see the appeal. Armin and I stop to look at most of things in the window. I notice that Armin keeps checking his phone. He has never paid this much attention to his phone before. I can’t stand the frequent checks anymore.

“Are you waiting for a call?” He snaps his head to look at me; eyes wide. 

“No, I have just been texting someone. Just waiting for a response.” He looks away towards on of the windows. Why would waiting for a text make him so nervous? I smile at him.

“Boyfriend?” I guess. Who else would make him check his phone like this?

“N-no, actually.” His face goes red. No? 

“Well then, who is it?” He lets out a groan before answering. 

“Just someone that I met at the library last week. We hit it off, and we have been talking ever since.” I am a little dumbfounded at his answer. Since last week? “Look, can we just drop it. It’s not that important. We’re just talking. It doesn’t mean anything.” He says in earnest. Why is he getting so worked up over talking to someone?

“Your the one making a big deal of it.” I stare at his red face a little longer. Unless… “You like them.” I see his blue eyes widen. 

“N-no I don’t. He is just really smart and handsome…” He looks towards the sky. “Okay, fine! I like him. So, what? It’s not like anything will come of it.”

“Does your boyfriend know?”

“Of course not! I j-just don’t want to hurt him…” I looks towards the ground with a sad expression. If Armin likes this new guy more than the one that he is seeing now, shouldn’t you do the right thing? I walk over to Armin and grab one of his hands. 

“You should tell him.” He just gives me a doubtful look. “You can’t keep leading him on with a relationship that you are not happy in. If you believe that you will be happier with this other person, you need to break up with the other one.” It sounds right in my mind, but who am I to give out advice? I have never been in a relationship before, so who am I to give advice? Armin gives me a hug.

“You’re right. I shouldn’t do this to either of them. It’s just Ewrin is so smart and clever. We met at the library last week, and I haven’t had a conversion like that with anyone in well… ever.” While Armin drones on and on about this guy, I can only focus on one thing.

“His name is Erwin?” I can’t help the laugh that comes out of my mouth when I say the name. I receive a shove from Armin, who releases a laugh of his own.

“Shut up. It fits him.” I just shake my head as we continue to walk down the street. We finally stop at a old, brick building. I look up at the sign above the entrance, and I look at Armin in shock.

“No way!” I continue to stare at his smug expression. “I am not getting one!” I take a step back and start to walk back the way we came. 

“Hey! We are not here for that!” He grabs me by my shirt and pulls me back to stand next to him. I stare at the ‘Tattoo’ sign again.

“Then what are we here for?”

“Piercings!” Armin shouts, gaining a few looks from passerby's. I laugh as he ducks his head down. Then, I process what he has said. 

“Piercings?” My hands find their way to my ears. “So, you plan to distract me from pain, by inflicting more pain?” He just rolls his eyes at me before heading into the shop. I follow behind him. 

“Don’t worry about it. Mike is the best in town. He is the one who did my first piercings, and I didn’t even feel a thing!”

“First piercings? How many do you have?” He throws a sly look over his shoulder before walking to the front desk. I can barely handle the thought of getting my ears pierced. The thought of getting other parts of my body pierced kind of makes me nauseous. We hear a scream from one of the back rooms. I look at Armin before turning towards the door. Before I get too far, he grabs my arm. Armin rings the bell at the front desk.

“Just a minute!” We hear from the back. I take this time to look around the lobby of the shop. The walls are mostly covered in pictures of the artists work. Some people put tattoos in some questionable places. The front desk is a glass cabinet filled with earrings, lip rings, and all the other piercings that a person can have. 

“So, the unfortunate thing, is that you can’t have any cute earrings until your ears heal.” Armin says. “You will have studs in for the first eight weeks.” I nod, still looking at the display case. A tall blond male walks up from the back. He smiles when he sees Armin.

“Good to see you again Armin, are you back for more?” Armin smiles up at him and shakes his head. 

“Not this time. I am actually here for my friend, Eren. He is here to get his ears pierced for the first time.” The man looks over at me, and extends a hand. 

“Mike Zacharias. Virgin, huh?” He gives me body a once over, and I blush as I take his hand. I get pulled forward over the glass. He takes a sniff and releases me. I give Armin a disturbed look before taking several steps away from Mike. Armin just laughs. 

“He does this with everyone.” He looks at Mike. “Yes, he is. First time for any piercing, so be gentle with him, yeah?” I feel my face heat up some more, because it doesn’t feel like they are just talking about some piercings. They both laugh at my uncomfortable aura. 

“I’m always gentle. Anyway, head back to my room, I will be there in a minute.” Armin nods and leads the way to the back. 

“So, has he done all of your piercings?” I ask Armin, as he leads me into one of the rooms.

“Yeah. I got my first one when I was sixteen. Of course, those were just my ears, so my grandpa didn’t question them.” I nodded and looked around the room. There were more pictures on the walls. “I got my others before school started.” What others? I am about to ask Armin more, but Mike comes into the room. 

“Are you ready?” He is looking at me. No, I think to myself, I am not. I find myself nodding, and sitting on the dentist look-alike chair. My palms are damp, and I start to chew on my lower lip. What if something goes wrong? What if I start bleeding, and we can’t get it to stop? I feel Armin’s hands in my own. I look up, and I am grateful that he is here with me. I can hear Mike getting things ready on a tray beside me, but I can’t bring myself to look at what he is doing. I just focus on Armin’s eyes. I hope he is not disgusted by me sweaty palms. He must not be, since he is still holding on to them. I feel Mike grab my left ear, and I jump at the contact. 

“It’s okay.” I barely hear Armin over the buzzing in my ears. “Just focus on me okay.” I nod. I feel my face pull into a grimace as I wait for Mike to poke the needle through. I can feel Armin rub circles over my backs of my hands. I can feel my omega is even more restless than I am, and I can tell by the look on Armins face that I am releasing some unpleasant pheromones. I don’t care though. What is he waiting for? Just do-

I feel the prick of the needle. I tense up a little more before realizing that it’s no more than a bee sting. I relax. That is not as bad as I thought it would be. Mike quickly gets the other ear done. It’s not bad. I mean, both ears are throbbing a little bit, but it is manageable. I get up and walk over to the mirror. I turn my head from side to side, and find that it doesn’t look that bad either. The studs are gold, and they go well with my skin tone. I feel a bubble of excitement in my chest, and I do a little dance. I turn around to see Armin and Mike looking at me. I stop my little jig, and stumble over my feet as I do. My face feels like a furnace. Mike laughs and leaves the room. Armin beams at me before bouncing over to give me a hug. 

“Like them?”

“I kind of love them, actually.” I respond. I can’t stop smiling, which in turn makes Armin’s smile bigger. We make our way to the front desk, when I remember that I didn’t bring my money. I pull Armin back and whisper to him, “I don’t have my money.” He gives me a skeptical look.

“This is on me. My gift remember.” He drags me to the front desk. I know that he meant for this to be a gift, but I still feel bad that he has to pay for it. Well, I don’t have money on me now, but I can get him back later. Once we pay and say our goodbyes, we head back towards campus. As we make it back to campus, my stomach growls in hunger. Armin laughs, “to the mess hall, then.” The mess hall is crowded with the dinner rush. I look at the special menu and bounce in excitement.

Armin gives me a look, and I just shrug back at him. “It’s spaghetti night.” This has been a really good day, and to top it all off I get to have some spaghetti. We make out way through the line, and find a table in the back of the hall. I am enjoying the saucy goodness when Isabel slams her tray on the table. 

“Boys are stupid.” Armin and I give each other a look before we look over at her. She darts her eyes between us before continuing. “Obviously, I don’t mean you guys! It’s the one who doesn’t seem to care that I am ignoring him.” Armin and I give each other confused looks. “Furlan! Look at him over there, just carrying on like nothing is wrong.” We look over in the direction that she is pointing to see Furlan laughing with his friends. Isabel slaps both of us in the arm. “Don’t actually look at him.”

“You just told us to look!” I say exasperated.

“That doesn’t mean look at him!” I am so confused. I look back over to Furlan to see that he is now staring at us. I quickly look away. “We have been dating for years. I haven’t talked to him in one whole week, and he acts like it doesn’t bother him.”

“How do you know it’s not bothering him?” Armin chimes in. Isabel’s face turns contemplative, but quickly dissolves into a grimace. She shakes her head.

“I don’t think so. He hasn’t even tried to talk to me this past week. At all. I think I need to do something to get his attention back.” She sounds so determined. Armin and I shoot each other panicked looks. What does she have in mind? Hopefully it’s nothing too drastic. Armin voices the question. 

“What did you have in mind?” 

“I have a couple of ideas, but I am leaning towards jealousy.” I almost spit out my drink, and end up chocking on some of it. I start to cough, and Isabel smacks my back. 

“I think that is a horrible idea.” Armin states. I nod, in between my coughs, in agreement. Isabel pouts at the consensus. 

“Well, I don’t. Just a little bit of flirting, nothing too much. It’s just to get his attention.” She looks down at the table before continuing. “Besides, he has to realize that I can’t wait around forever for him to be ready. If he ever comes around. If he is not willing to be mates with me, maybe it’s time to look at some other options.” Is this what relationships are like? Constantly getting back at one another? Is it to really hurt each other? 

“Do you really want to do this Isabel? I mean, we can’t stop you if you really want to do this, but I think you should think seriously about this. I doubt he is ignoring you to get back at you.” Armin voices. Isabel looks up, eyes glistening.

“Of course, I don’t want to do this! I want to be with him, but if he isn’t going to put in the effort…” She glances over at his table. “I don’t know. When he rejected the idea of us being mates, it just felt like he was rejecting me as a whole. It hurt a lot. I know it’s wrong, but there is a small part of me that wants him to hurt just as much as I am.” She is letting out distress pheromones. I glance over to Fulan to see that he is fidgeting in his seat, but his eyes are glaring at the table. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t be daegging you guys into this. My heat is a couple of weeks away, and with my omega not knowing if Furlan will be there or not, I don’t know.” She looks like she is ready to burst into tears. 

“Really? My heat is in a couple of weeks, too.” I try to district her. She perks up at the admission. 

“Yeah? Have you looked into any of the heat buildings around town?” I shake my head. 

“Not yet. I kind of want someone to go with me.” With that sentence, I get two volunteers to go with me. 

“You have to see the one I go to.” Isabel starts on a rant about all of the amenities that the building has. I don’t really pay that much attention to what she is saying. I am just glad that I got her off of the get revenge on Furlan topic. I nod along while I finish my spaghetti. We leave the mess hall together, and head towards the dorm. Armin looks at his phone and stops.

“Hey, I will meet up with you guys later. I’m going to the library.” I wriggle my eyebrows at him suggestively. He just rolls his eyes and shoves my shoulders on his way to the library. I look over at Isabel, to see that she is staring at the entrance of the mess hall. I look over as well to see Furlan exiting the building with his group of friends. I turn Isabel in the direction of the of the dorms, and I force her to start walking in that direction again. 

“Don’t worry, he will come around eventually.” I say and I hear her sigh. 

“You think so? I really hope so. I don’t want to spend my heat alone, even if he won’t become my mate this time around.”

“Just give it time, and please, don’t do anything too crazy.” I give her a light shove with my own shoulder, as we walk up the dorms steps. It’s darker than it usually is due to the storm clouds that are rolling in. 

“Yeah, that was a crazy idea, wasn’t it?” She laughs. “I am going to try and get some sleep. See you later.” I watch as she walks up the steps. I can’t believe that they still haven’t talked to each other yet. What was holding Furlan back? I mean, it’s one thing not to be ready to have a mate, but to not talk to them after a rejection? I am about to walk up the stairs myself, when I hear a knocking on the front door. I turn around to see Furlan there, staring at me. I glance up at the stairs. Does he want Isabel? I look back over at him and point to the stairs. He frantically shakes his head and points at me. Me? What does he want with me? I take a couple of steps towards him but stop. Is this the right thing to do? Should I talk to him with the way he is talking to Isabel? He knocks harder this time, and I jump at the sound. I cautiously make my way to the door. When I make it, I don’t open the door. I just stare at him though the glass. 

“Get out here.” He says in a aggressive tone. I shake my head. Isabel dates this guy? He seems rude. He sighs through is nose and pinches the bridge of his nose. “I just want to check on Issy. Please.” He does sound sincere. I bite my lip and open the door to step outside. I find that he is not alone. I can’t tell who is with him. The person is at the bottom of the stairs, with their hood up. I can see the lit end of a cigarette in the growing darkness, but not much else. I can see the smoke floating up towards the sky. I turn to Furlan.

“What do you want?” I am surprised at how hard my voice sounds. 

“How is she doing?” I feel a hot wave of anger and protectiveness course through me. 

“How do you think she is doing?” My voice snaps out. How could ask such a question? He has crushed her without thinking twice, has not talked to her for an entire week, and he has the audacity to ask how she is doing. 

“I know she probably isn’t doing well, but-”

“If you want to know how she is doing, then you will have to ask her yourself.” I take a step towards him. “I will not be apart of whatever it is you are trying to do.” I hear the person at the bottom of the stairs huff out a laugh, and I glare down the stairs at them. Is smoking even allowed on campus? The stranger pulls in another drag of the cigarette before blowing it out in my direction. I roll my eyes at them and head towards the door. Furlan grabs my arm, but I shake it off. 

“Please, I just want to know.” I give the hardest glare I think I have ever given someone.

“Then ask her yourself.” With that, I turn and walk into the building. It’s only when I am in my room, that I am shocked about how I acted. Where did that anger come from? I mean, I have been angry before, but not like that. I have never expressed my anger like that, but I do feel like he had it coming. Should I tell Isabel what happened? I don’t know. All I know is that I want to shower and sleep, and I do just that. After my shower, I lay down. I jerk at the sharp pain that shoots behind my ear. I reach up to see if there is something there, then I remember that I got my ears pierced today. This will take some getting used to. Armin still isn’t back yet. I hope he figures out what to do with his situation, and that he does it soon. I want to see him happy. With that thought, I drift off to sleep.

*** 

I wake up to the sound of my phone ringing. I blindly reach out and accidentally knock my phone off of the night stand. “Shit.” I reach down to grab it, but on the way up I hit my head on he corner of the stand. “Fuck!” I nurse my head for a second before answering my phone. “Hello?”

“Eren! It’s me Hange!” I pull the phone away from my ear when I feel the sting behind my ear. Damn piercings. “It’s time again. I understand if you aren’t ready to do another case, but I thought that I would give you the option of coming or not.” I thought about it for a minute. Am I ready? I mean, who is ever ready to jump back into something like this? I suppose nobody ever is.

“Yeah, I’m good.” I hand up after I get the details from Hange. We are to meet at the same spot as last time, which makes things easy. I hurry up and get dressed. I glance over at Armin’s bed to see that he has kicked off all of his covers. I smile before walking out of the room. 

I make it to the hospital, and I find that the trip is a less anxious one than last time. I spot Hange’s blue truck in the same spot it was last time. They meet me halfway across the parking lot. “Hey, are you ready?” I nod, and we head towards the building. We are greeted with the same security guards as last time, and they tell us that we are to go to the NICU and OB units. I have no idea where these units are, but Hange just nods and heads towards the elevators. Once in the elevators, Hange swipes their badge on a black detector before choosing floor five. “So, OB is on the fifth floor, and NICU is on the sixth. I always start with OB first, talk to the nurse and the mother. The thing with the floors, is that there is not always a doctor to talk to. Generally, the doctors make rounds in the morning, and sometimes it’s hard to track them down for the rest of the day. So, we can look at the doctor’s notes in the computer if need be if there are any questions we might have.” I nod, and we arrive at our destination. The elevator doors open to reveal a small room with a door, with a phone next to it. “This is the phone I was talking about. Visitors will use this when they come, but we will use out badges.” They put their badge over another black detector, and the door ‘clicks’ open. We go through the door, Hange turns left and starts down the hallway. I am surprised, even though I shouldn’t be, that everything is white. It is all white, except for the scattered pictures of sleeping babies. We reach the nurse’s station, and Hange talks with the ward clerk. “Hello, I’m Hange, with Child and Family Services. Do you know where I am needed today?” 

“Yes, Hitch has your patient. She is down in Hall Two.” Hange thanks the clerk, and we are on our way to what I assume is Hall Two. There are some more pictures of babies, and I can hear a woman screaming as we pass one of the rooms. Hange towards me.

“Oh, the wonders of child birth!” I give them a skeptical look. The wonders? The woman sounds like she is being ripped in two. I mean, she kind of is, I guess? We arrive at a second nurses station, that has a fair-skinned woman sitting at one of the computers. She has pale brown hair that stops at shoulder length. “Hitch, always a pleasure!” The girl looks up and grimaces at Hange. 

“I was hoping it wouldn't be you.” Hange puts a hand over their heart in mock hurt.

“Why, Hitch? What did I ever do to you? Besides, you know that I work every weekend.” Hitch just rolls her eyes, and starts to rattle off facts about the case. 

“So, as you know, we do a drug screen on every mother that comes in during labor.” Hange nods while taking notes. “Well, room five twenty four’s urine came back positive for methamphetamine, marijuana, and cocaine. The baby was born this morning with the classic signs and symptoms of withdrawal, and was taken to the NICU for further monitoring.” Hange nods some more.

“Father?”

“The mother, Nick Jackson, came alone.”

“Does he admit to taking any drugs?” Hitch snorts in response.

“You’re not going to believe this, but he says he is positive because he drank a Mountain Dew before he cam to the hospital.” I cover up my laugh with a cough, and Hitch smiles at me. “Right? Well, we sent down the placenta and umbilical cord to lab for further testing. I can almost guarantee that both of those will come back positive as well. With the symptoms that the newborn has, I bet he has been on drugs for most of the pregnancy.” 

“Has he thought about adoption?” 

“No. I brought that up to him once we found out the test results, but he was adamant that he was going to take care of this baby. Also, he said that this baby would bring his mate back to him, whatever that means.” The look that Hange gives Hitch after that sentence could kill.

“What do you mean? You didn’t ask about it?”

“Of course, not. It’s not my job to get to the bottom of whatever is going on, that’s yours. My job is to monitor that omega before, during, and after pregnancy.” Hitch then proceeds to get up and walk away. I can feel my shocked expression grow, and I turn to look at Hange. 

“Is she always like that?”

“Oh, yes, and if you weren’t here, I would have some choice words for her. But, you are here to train and see the how things are supposed to be done, not listen to me tear her a new one. She only said what she said, because you were here. Any other time, she would have kept her mouth shut.” I wonder what happened between the two of them? I would have to ask her later. “Anyway, are you ready to experience your first interview?” I nod, and I find that there is a little trace of excitement mixed in with my nerves. Hange leads us to the correct door and knocks.

“Come in!” He sounds pleasant enough. He sounded a little too upbeat for someone in his position. We enter the room to find the omega pacing the room. When we enter, his heads snaps over. We must not have been who he was looking for, because he goes back to passing the room. He is a bit smaller than I am, with auburn hair and almond eyes. 

“Nick?” Hange starts. Nick stops and turns toward us. He might have stopped walking, but he is always moving. His fingers are twitching by his side, he keeps shifting his position, and his eyes can’t rest on one thing in the room for more than a few seconds. “Hi! My name is Hange Zoe from Child and Family Services, and this is Eren.” I offer up a smile and wave. Nick doesn’t seem too happy with my presence. He gives me a once over before grimacing. 

“What is he doing here?” Nick sounds aggressive. “He can’t be here when my mate shows up!” He starts going off about there being another omega in his room. I looked up at Hange with a panicked expression. 

“Nick!” Hange shouts to gain back his attention. It works, and Nick stops hid rant. “Eren is not here to take your mate from you. He is here to help me, okay?” Nick settles down with the explanation. “Now, we are here to ask you some questions about your baby, okay?” His expression brightens when his baby is mentioned.

“Will I get to see him soon? They haven’t let me see him.”

“Your baby is on another unit, so they can monitor him closely. They can’t bring him down here to see you, but they can’t keep you from seeing your baby. As you might know, we are here to further investigate the test results of your urine.” Nick rolls his eyes.

“I already told them!” He begins to pace the room again, 

“I know what you told them, but I want you to tell me.” Hange says calmly. Nick gives her an annoyed look before looking at the ground.

“I drank a Mountain Dew before I came.” It’s a good thing that Hitch said something about this earlier, or I’m afraid that I would have laughed out loud in the room. I manage to keep a straight face.

“So, you haven’t used any drugs before?”

“Well… I did a little back in college, but once I found out about the baby I stopped, I swear!” He is now wringing his fingers so hard, I think he might break one of them. 

“You haven’t used any drugs in the pregnancy?” It feels as if Hange is staring into Nick’s soul, but he is determined. 

“No.” The answer is accompanied by the frantic shaking of his head. Hange just takes a deep breath.

“Well, I’m sure you now, that they sent down the placenta and umbilical cord after the birth for further testing.” Nick just nods. “If both of those are found to have the same drugs, then it is safe to say that you have been doing these drugs for at least half of the pregnancy. They also have some special tests to see if the baby has them in his system.” Hange lets the information sink in. The expression on Nick’s face is heartbreaking. He lets several tears out before answering Hange. 

“I never… I never really quit after college.” He starts to wring at his fingers again, and more tears flow out of his eyes. “I met Jordan after college, and he tried so hard to get me clean. I just kept going back, and I have no idea why.” He lets out a shuddered breath and gives us a watery smile. “Despite everything, he wanted to be my mate. A couple of months after we mated, I found out I was pregnant. I tried so, so hard to get clean. Not only for me, but for all of us. But…” He is biting his lip now. “Jordan caught me a couple of months ago, and I haven’t seen him since. He said that if I couldn’t came clean for the sake of out baby, then he didn’t want to be with me. I don’t get it! I tried so hard! So hard to get clean, but it just kept calling me back! I tried to get Jordan to stay, but he wasn't having any of it.” He is now pulling at his hair, and Hange steps in to prevent further harm. They take his arms and directs them to sit on the bed. 

“Hey, it’s okay.”

“No, it’t not! You’re going to take my baby from me!” He yells and looks out the window in contemplation. “I called Jordan when I went into labor. I had… hoped that he would come, but he didn’t.”

“You know, we are here to help you. We are not here to take your baby away from you. We are here to ensure the safety of everyone involved. Now, we have several options open to us at this time. The first, is that the baby is placed with a foster family while you get clean. We will check on your progress every week, until it is determined that you fit to have the baby back in your custody.” Nick nods. “The second, is that we try to get a hold of Jordan to see if he will take custody of the child. This way, the baby will be with family.” Nick nods eagerly at the second choice. Hange spends a while going over the different programs with the omega. They even pull some pamphlets out of their bag. Nick’s attention never leaves Hange, and I hope that this time works out for him. After everything is said, Nick gives Hange a hug. 

“Thank you.”

“No problem, its what I we do.” They return the hug. “Now, do you want to go see your baby?” Nick’s face brightens, and he is out of the bed and out the door before Hange and I can react. We smile at each other before following Nick down the hallway. We are almost to the elevator, when we are stopped by Hitch. 

“Where are you going?” 

“We are taking this patient to see his baby.” Hange gives Hitch a tight lipped smile. 

“He can’t go up there!”

“Why not?”

Hitch glances at Nick. “You know why.”

“I don’t actually. As you, helpfully, said earlier, it is my job to get to the bottom of this situation, and I have. I have determined that he is not an immediate threat to his baby. As well, it’s not up to you if he gets to see his baby or not, it’s up to me. I say he can see his baby.” With that, we all step into elevator, and Hange waves at Hitch’s glare as the doors close. Hange uses her badge again, and we go up to the sixth floor. They also talk with the nurse through the phone, and we are let in with no problems. The nurse meets us out side of the door, and we follow her down the hallway. We stop at a large glass wall, that looks into room. The nurse points out the baby, and Nick is over the moon. 

“He is so beautiful.” He puts his hand on the glass. “Do you think Jordan will come? I put him on the list of people who can visit, in case he wants to.” He is back to fiddling with his fingers, and Hange puts a comforting hand on his shoulder. 

“I honestly don’t know. We can-” Hange is interrupted by a voice. 

“Excuse me?” Nick’s head turns so fast, that I get whiplash. The smile that appears on his face is unlike anything that I have seen before. Pure happiness. I turn to find a tall, red haired alpha standing awkwardly in the hallway. 

“Jordan!” Nick moves to go toward him, but stops, unsure of himself. “Hey…” They continue to stare at each other. 

“Well, we will give the two of you a moment to catch up. We will go catch the nurses up on what you have decided, okay?” Nick nods, but I don’t think he heard what Hange has said. Hange steers me towards the nurse’s station, and we, well Hange, updates them on the plan. The baby will most likely go home with Jordan, while Nick is in rehab. Someone from Child and Family services will visit each of them every week to ensure the safety of the child, and that everything is going okay on Nick’s end. The nurse, seems content with this plan af action. I am glad that it ended up with way. I hope Nick comes clean, and that he can be there for his family. After we are done, Hange offers to buy me lunch. We make out way to the lower level of the hospital. While we are getting food, Hange explains that the father will have to get a drug test as well, before he can have custody. I nod and pick up a juice. Once we are seated, I ask the one question that has been on my mind most of the day. 

“What did you do to make Hitch so mad?” Hange stares at my owlishly before they let out a loud laugh. 

“Oh, nothing too exciting. We just slept together a long time ago. It was before I met Moblit.” What? I can’t imagine what my face looks like right now. Hange just continues to laugh. Well, that’s too much information. 

“Anyway, you said that you only do weekends? What do you do during the week?” 

“A little bit of this and that.” They don’t offer up any more information, and I don’t ask. We finish our meals, and we make our way to the from lobby to find that it is raining hard outside. 

“You need a ride back to campus?”

“No, I should be alright.” Thankfully, I always carry a umbrella in my bag. “I’ll see you later!” I yell over the rain, as we go out separate ways. As I make my way to campus, I think over the events of the day. Even though I didn’t do much to, I feel like I actually helped someone today. Well, I witnessed it at least. I’m a little too lost in my thoughts to notice a figure running out of the alleyway until it’s too late. The body slams into mine, but I manage to maintain my balance. I look up and find that I actually know the person. “Mina?” I think she is in my psych class, and I think she lives in the same building as I do. 

“What? Oh Eren, it’s just you.” Her eyes seems unfocused, and she keeps glancing back into the alleyway. 

“Are you okay?” I ask. She doesn’t seem to be paying attention to me, just the alley. I move to have a look at what she is preoccupied with, but she pulls me back from the entrance. 

“I fine, I was just… I was just taking a shortcut. Thought it would go faster, but I just… scared myself is all. Thought I heard something.” She looks back down the alleyway. She looks terrified. What would an omega be doing in an alleyway anyway? Shortcut? This alleyway doesn’t lead anywhere. I look down the alley as well, but I don’t see anything other the dumpsters and trash. Something does feel off though.

“Well, were you heading back to campus? We can walk together.” She looks relieved at the suggestion, and joins me under the umbrella. We walk in silence. Every so often, she will glance behind her, which makes me look behind us as well. Who is she looking for? I don’t see anyone I recognize. She is putting me on edge. I fell like someone is going to jump out and attack us. We make it back to campus without any problems. We walk right by the library on out way to the dorms, and I see a familiar sight. Well, a familiar figure. Leaning against the stone wall of the library wall. Smoke curling up from a lit cigarette. This time, I can actually see that they are male. He has black hair, styled in an undercut. An expressionless face, and narrow gray eyes. I am not close enough to smell him, but I bet he is an alpha. It’s the aura he puts put; do not disturb. I find myself wanting to walk into the library, even though I don’t have anything to do in there. I just want to walk by him. I shake my head to get rid of the thoughts, and I realize that I have stopped walking. In turn, Mina has stopped walking to stay under the umbrella. She looks between me and the stranger.

“You know him?” She asks with a lilt to her voice. I shake my head but turn my head back to the stranger. He is looking in our direction. It’s hard to say if he is actually looking in my direction, but a part me hopes that he is. Mina grabs my arm and practically drags me away from the library. I turn to get one last look at him, but he is gone. I can feel my omega practically pout at having him out of our sight. I roll my eyes at myself. This is ridiculous. I don’t even know him. We make it back to the dorm. While I shake out my umbrella, Mina heads inside. I stay under the overhang for a couple of minutes, just soaking in the calm of the rain. I think back on the events of today. I honestly didn’t think that Jordan would come back. I was surprised when he showed up in the NICU. I might not understand Nick’s life choices, but I do hope that he comes out of this a better person and drug free. After the events of last weekend, this feels a better. I know that I probable won’t be able to to save them all, but I can hope that the good outcomes will outweigh the bad.


	5. I Got Somethin' for Ya

For the first time in my entire life, I want to look pretty. I mean, I have never been bad looking, but this will be the first time I want to put effort into my appearance. Which is stupid. I still haven’t met him, yet. I don’t even know his name. With the off chance that he might be hanging around the library when I get there, is, apparently, too much for my omega to handle. They want us to look our best, but… I don’t know how. I am standing in front of my closet, staring at the bare amount of clothes that I have. I glance over at the other side of the room and sigh. I should’ve asked Armin for advice before he left. He seemed preoccupied though, so I didn’t want to distract him. He is meeting with his boyfriend, well ex-boyfriend, to break the news to him. I hope everything goes smoothly for him. Unlike me, who is having an eternal crisis over some clothes. Why does it even matter what I wear? I know what my omega is hoping for. My heat is only a week away. They want to lure this poor unsuspecting man into five days of nothing but heat. I grimace at the thought. I have never spent my heat with anyone before, and I won’t let the first one be a stranger. Here I thought that my greatest problem during my heat would be getting my classes sorted. Instead, I have to keep myself from running down to the library to hunt down a man I don’t know. I groan and close my closet door. I should just forget about it. It doesn’t matter anyway. He probably won’t be interested in me anyway. But what if he was? I roll my eyes at my omega. They just won’t give up. I’m supposed to meet Reiner at the library later to continue working on our project. I look over at Armin’s closet again. He won’t mind right? I mean, he has let me borrow clothes before. It doesn’t hurt to look. I walk over to his closet and open the door. My eyes widen at the assortment of clothes that he has. 

Sweaters, dresses, and much more. His closet is full. I start to look through the clothes. Some were a bit dressier than I was looking for. I turn to take a look outside of the window. It was still on the rainy side, so something warm. I think back to the off the shoulder shirt Armin had put me in a couple of weeks ago. That would show him, right? That I was available with the presence of my bare neck. I realize where my thoughts are heading, and I shake my head to clear the thoughts from my head. Oh my God, my omega needs to stop. This isn’t going to happen. Though, it doesn’t hurt to look good anyway, right? My hand stops at one of the softest sweaters that I have ever felt. I pull it off the hanger to get a better look at it. It’s pure white. I look at the tag and see that it is Cashmere. Holy crap. Before I can think twice, I rummage through Armin’s drawers in search of some black tights. I jump in victory once I find them. I undress and shimmy my way into the tights. I throw the sweater over my head, and I find that it comes down to the middle of my thighs. Perfect. I walk over to the mirror to look at myself at all angles. Not bad. Unconsciously, I adjust the sweater so it slides off of my left shoulder. I tilt my head to the right and caress my neck with my fingers. I see the glint of the gold earring against my tan skin. My eyes wander down to my unmarked neck and further down to the stark white sweater. I can’t help the giggle that bursts from my throat. There is not way he won’t notice-

“Dammit!” I frantically fix the sweater so it is less revealing. These preheat hormones are a bitch. They have never been this way before either; this intense. I walk over to my bedside drawer and pull out my preheat suppressants. I have never had to use these before either. My omega has never taken notice of anyone before now. I take two out of the package and swallow them whole. Hopefully these help with the intrusive thoughts. I look back at the mirror, and decide that I might as well finish the outfit. I rummage through Armin’s closet and find some brown ankle boots. I debate whether or not I am going to wear a necklace, but my omega quickly shot that down. They don’t want any distraction from the main attraction; my neck. I groan again. I need a distraction. I look at my phone. I’m not supposed to meet Reiner for a couple of more hours. I guess it couldn’t hurt to get to the library early. Get started on some of my other assignments while I wait. 

As I am about to leave the room, Armin flings the door open. He must be too distracted with his thoughts to notice me, because he bumps right into me. He is startled out of his head. He doesn’t look up though. Also, he has his hood up. He doesn’t look at me as he makes his way further into the room. 

“Ah, sorry Eren, I didn’t see you.” His voice sounds hoarse. “I didn’t think you would be here. Weren’t you supposed to meet up with Reiner?” I slowly nod, but then I realize he can’t see me. 

“Uh, yeah, but that’s not for a couple of more hours. What’s wrong?” Something is off. The meet up he had with his boyfriend must have been rough. He hiccups before answering. 

“It’s n-nothing.” I can hear the tears in his voice. I grab his arm to turn him to face me, but he shakes off my hand. I want him to look at me. “I’m fine.”

“No, you’re not!” I don’t mean to shout. “Sorry. Will you just look at me?” He stays where he is, and I sigh. “How did he take it?” I can see Armin’s shoulders tense up. 

“As one would expect; not very well. He was… upset and angry. So, angry.” He whispers the last part. It’s barely audible, but I do hear it. I can see from the motion of his arms, that he is wiping tears from his eyes. I feel a ball of nerves start to settle into my chest. I want to see him. 

“Turn around.” My tone is hard, but I can hear the edge of pleading in it. He waits a few seconds before turning around. I can’t see the features of his face that well, due to his drawn hood. He makes no move to put his hood down. Fine then. I reach up to remove his hood, but his hands shoot up to capture my wrists. I look at his eyes, and he lets out a pained sigh before releasing me. I slowly let his hood down. As I do, he turns his head to the left. 

“Armin.” I feel like a mother who is scolding their child. He responds with a whine, but I am determined to get to the bottom of this. I already have a sinking feeling in my gut about what I am going to find. When I don’t respond to his plea, he slowly turns his head to look at me. I gasp when he fully faces me. “Oh my God.” I whisper in shock. I gently take his face into my hands and tilt it to the right to get a better view. “What happened?” It feels like a stupid question, becuase I already know what happened. The evidence is the bright red left eye Armin is sporting. It will probably turn into a nasty bruise in the next couple of days. His right eye is swollen but that is from crying. Alphas, I guess Armin’s ex is an alpha, can be unpredictable when angry. I mean, it’s okay to be angry in this situation, but to actually his Armin. Has he done this before? “He hit you!?” Armin shakes me off, again. 

“It’s fine. We’re over. I’m not going to see him anymore, so that’s that.” He starts to pace around the room. 

“It’s not fine. He assaulted you!”

“I’m fine!” He stops in the middle of the room, and gestures to his eye. “Besides, this will go away soon.”

“I don’t care. You have to report him!” He just shakes his head vigorously and resumes pacing. 

“I d-don’t want to do that. It’s better to just let it go…” I can feel my shocked expression. Eyes wide and mouth open. Let it go? He’s kidding, right? He was just assaulted, and he just wants to ‘let it go’. I can’t believe- 

I am struck by a sudden thought. “H-he has done this before hasn’t he?” Armin stops and sinks onto his bed. That is all the answer I need. I take a seat next to him, and stare at the wall ahead of me. Unlike Armin’s poster filled one, mine is blank. My mind however, is full of thoughts and questions. How long has this been going on? How many times has this happened before? I have never gotten why or how people stay in a relationship like this. Wouldn’t it be simpler to get away from the relationship? I mean, you might love the person, but their feelings are put into question once they start hurting you. You would think that everyone would go with the practical choice and leave. I have never been in a situation like this before. I would like to think that if I was ever in a situation like this, that I would have enough strength to leave the situation. I guess I won’t know until it happens, and I hope it never happens. That’s the thing though, a lot of the time, you don’t know someone is an abuser until it is too late. They can be some of the nicest people you have ever met, and then one day, they just turn on you. On the other hand, some people display abusive tendencies from the start: always asking where you are, who you are with, choosing your friends, and trying to isolate you from your own family.They will isolate you to the point where the only person they think they can depend on is their abuser. They do it all, and they always say it’s because they care for you. That they are concerned for your safety. Don’t they know that they are in fact threatening their safety? Does it ever occur to them, that one day they could go too far? Don’t they know that they are the cause of the anxiety and fear within their counterpart? I don’t know, and I don’t know how to comfort Armin either. I look over at him, and see that he is staring at the wall. I wonder what he is thinking about? He said that it was over between them, and that they wouldn’t be seeing each other again. I hope his ex does stay away. I don’t like seeing Armin like this. Though, who would want to see a friend like this? I’m not quite sure how to approach this subject, even though I was demanding answers just a couple of moments ago. This is different. This is actually knowing what is going on and trying not to stir up old memories. I don’t want to push him to open up about his past experiences, but I do want to know what happened. I bring my arm up and wrap it around his shoulders. He leans his head against my shoulder, and in turn, I lay my head on his. He might not want to make a fuss or talk about it, but we do have to get his head checked out at least. 

“Does it hurt?” I ask. I think back to Tanner, and how okay he seemed even after all that he had endured. “No dizziness, nausea, or fatigue?” I want to make sure that he is alright. Who knows that could be going on in his body right now. 

“It’s a bit tender, but nothing too extreme.” I nod, and look at him thoughtfully. 

“Are you sure that you don’t want to report him?” I feel Armin shake his head. 

“I just… I’m tired. I just want to be done with it. I don’t plan on seeing him again. Honestly, he wasn’t bad in the beginning. It started when he found out that we were going to different colleges. I thought that things would get better if we took some time apart, but it didn’t.” I nod. Well, at least it sounds like the abuse went too far. Then again, any abuse is too far. I untangle from the embrace so I can look him in the eyes. 

“Fine, I get that you don’t want to file a report, even though I think you should.” His shoulders relax, but I’m not done. “I think you should get checked out though.” He starts to shake his head again. “Whether you like it or not, you just got hit in the head. After everything that happened a couple of weeks ago, I would think that you would do this for me.” I know it’s wrong to use a child to blackmail a friend, but Tanner didn’t show any signs of a bleed either. I just want to be sure that Armin is all right. Once that sentence leaves my mouth, all the fight leaves Armin. He puts his hands up in surrender before getting up to get ready to leave. I do the same. Now that Armins isn’t preoccupied avoiding eye contact, he finally gets to see what I am wearing. 

“Who are you dressed up for?” He is trying to get the attention off of him. I understand, I just wish he picked out a different subject. I look down at my outfit, and find that the sweater has slid off of my shoulder, again. I straighten it out. I blush and try to defend myself. 

“Who says I am? Is it a crime to want to look good? Maybe I just want to look good. You know, boost my confidence.” My God, I need to shut up, but I keep going. “I just wanted to look nice.”

“You wanted to look nice? Since when do you want to look nice?” He asks and takes a step closer. He cautiously leans forward to take a whiff. I grimace as a look of elation comes across his face. “Oh, preheat! So, did someone catch your eye?” He wriggles his eyebrows in a suggestive manner. An image of smoke curling up into the sky flashes through my mind. I shove him towards the door. 

“No! I don’t know why I did it.” I lie. I don’t know why I lie either. A part of me doesn’t want to tell Armin yet. I haven’t even spoken to the guy. I feel like it would be weird to mention it to him, and I don’t even know the guy’s name. 

“I understand. One time, I tried to leave the house in nothing but my underwear. Thank God my Grandpa was there to stop me.” We laugh before leaving the room. The walk to Trost General Hospital takes longer than the walk to the children’s hospital. We fill the journey with chatter about my upcoming heat.

“Have you looked at any heat centers yet?”

“No, I am going tomorrow after classes. I was actually going to ask if you wanted to go with me? I understand if you are busy, and I also wanted to ask Isabel to go as well.” I hope he does go with me. I feel that if I have to go alone, I will just choose one at random and be done with it.

“Of course, I will go with you! Isabel will go, too. We can make a night out of it. Grab dinner in town, maybe?” I eagerly nod at the suggestion. I’m just happy Armin is going with me. I have never gone to a heat center before. I know that are popular in big cities like Trost, but a lot of the smaller towns don’t have them. They are supposed to be places where an omega can safely have their heat, with or without someone, and not worry about any interruptions. It sounds really nice. In the past, I didn’t have to worry about that too much. When my heat would come, Petra used to take me to her house for a week. I can’t do that now though. I don’t want to bother her, and she is far away. The centers are basically like a hotel, with many rooms to accommodate different people. I also heard that in most of the centers, there is a spa underground for after the heat has passed. Sort of like rest and recovery, I guess. It would be nice to wade in a hot tub after a heat. I am jerked out of my thoughts when Armin gestures to a tall building a couple of blocks down. It is as big as Trost Children;s Hospital. We make our way to the emergency entrance, and Armin speaks with the lady at the registration desk. I look around at the dismal waiting room, and find that it is surprisingly vacant of people. I guess the emergency room isn’t busy all of the time. Armin is triaged quickly as well. We are ushered into a room where the nurse takes his vitals and begins to ask him standard questions. What happened? Did you lose consciousness? She went on, asking him about his pain and any prior medical history. After she was done, she left saying that the doctor would be in shortly. We only have to wait a short while, before we here a knock on the door. I am surprised to see Dr. Pixis walk into the room. 

“Ah, hello again, Eren. Didn’t think I would see you here.” I am actually surprised that he remembered me. 

“Hey, I didn’t think I would see you outside of the pediatric emergency room.” We shake hands, and he laughs.

“I work at both hospitals in town. I specialize in the pediatric variety, but I am certified in general emergency medicine as well.” I nod. “Now, I hear that we hit our head this evening?” He looks over at Armin for confirmation. Armin nods before launching into his false story.

“Yeah, I tripped and fell into a corner of a desk during my last class today.” He lets out a little embarrassed laugh. How do people do that? Pretend with such fluency. Pixis takes this story in stride, and begins an assessment on him. I watch as Armin follows the tiny flashlight with his eyes. 

“Alright, so far so good. We will just get a head CT to confirm that there is no concussion or any other abnormalities.” As Pixis says the last part, he looks directly at me with a look of understanding in his eyes. He knows. He knows that I am worried that Armin might have a similar outcome to little Tanner. I am glad that I don’t have to express these thoughts to anyone out loud because I feel dumb. I know the chances of Armin being seriously hurt from one hit is small, and he didn’t receive a beating like Tanner did either. I can’t help but worry about him though. I give Pixis a grateful look as he exits the room. 

“You don’t have to worry about me, you know.” 

“I know, but you’re my friend. It’s normal to worry about you when something like this happens.” We smile at each other. It doesn’t take too long for the CT scan to get done and get the results back. Pixis comes back, and he explains that the results were normal. Also, he gave us a list of signs and symptoms to look out for. He instructs us to come back to the emergency room if Armin experiences any of them. We leave while saying out farewells. The walk back to campus seems to take half the time as getting there did. Once we are back on campus, I convince Armin to go to the library with me to meet Reiner. Armin protests at first, but I remind him that I have to keep an eye on him. He relents easily enough, and we go to our room before heading to the library. I can already feel how restless my omega is. They can’t wait to see him. I can feel a shift in my body as we near the library. I can feel my gait gain more confidence, and my hips begin to sway a little bit more. Without my permission, my backpack gets shifted to my left shoulder, and my body shifts the sweater so it slides down my right shoulder. Once again, exposing my neck. I can feel Armin glance at me with confusion, and I wish that I had the strength to stop myself from doing these things. I ignore his stare as I make my way up the stone steps of the library. I feel a smile creep onto my face as I spot the familiar sight of smoke. My omega is intent on staring holes into this poor man’s face, and I can only hope that I don’t trip on the stairs. I see that he has his hood up, and I can’t see his features. Even though I can’t see his face clearly, I can feel his eyes on me. Raking over my body. My body feels on fire, and I suppress my growing grin. As the distance between us grows smaller, I am able to tear my gaze away from him. The feeling is too intense. I think Armin picks up on the atmosphere. He grabs a hold of my arm to keep me from wandering over to the man. Armin lets out a chuckle before taking the lead to open the door. I refuse to look at the man as I enter the building, but I can still feel his eyes on me. After Armin closes the door, he gives me a knowing look.

“What was that?” Once I enter the library, it’s like a switch is flipped. All the confidence seems to leave my body, and what I just did seems to hit me. I feel a blush rise on my cheeks, and I cover my face with my hands. 

“I have no freaking clue what that was.” I sigh and start to make my way to the first floor. Armin is right behind me. This is ridiculous. I have never acted like this in my entire life. Worse, towards a man I haven’t even talked to. 

“And that big speech about how you just ‘wanted to look good’?” My face gets redder, and it creeps down to my neck. I stop in the middle of the stairs and turn on a dime to glare down at Armin. He throws his hands up in surrender, but he still has a shit eating grin on his face. I roll my eyes at him before continuing up the stairs. 

“It doesn’t mean anything, and besides, it’s just the preheat talking.” I can feel Armin’s stare on my back. 

“I don’t know… do you usually go around like that?” I glance behind me.

“Like what?” I play dumb, but I know exactly what he is talking about. Strutting around like that. Oh my God, I can’t believe I did that. Oh well, there is nothing that I can do about it now. We make our way to one of the back tables of the second floor. I don’t see Reiner, but we are early.  
“Oh, you know, just you walking around like you’re looking for your last meal.” I shoot him another glare. 

“It’s not like that! I don’t even know him!” I see the glint in Armin’s eyes, and I know that I have mistepped. 

“I didn’t say anything about anything about the man out there.” I can only stare at his smug face. I try to think of something to say to get him off of this subject, but I can’t. I might as well talk to him about it. He is my friend after all. 

“It’s weird, right? I mean, I don’t know his name, and I haven’t even talked to him.” I glance over to Armin, to see that he is listening attentively. I feel comfortable enough to continue. “In spite of all this, my omega really… really wants him. This isn’t normal, right?” I continue to look at Armin for answers. 

“Generally, no, this isn’t normal.” Great. “Although, there have been some instances where this happens when the omega has spent many of their heats alone.” I perk up at that. 

“So, is it just my omega rebelling at being alone for so long?” I hope this is the answer. Usually, a lot of omegas my age, have found their mate by now, or they are in the process of courting. It’s not super uncommon for a omega to wait longer, but at least most omegas have spent their heat with at least one person. I just never found a person that I was comfortable enough to share something as intimate, like a heat, with. 

“Not necessarily. You have spent a heat with someone before, right?” I freeze at the unexpected question. I can feel the deer caught in the headlights look on my face. 

“And if I haven’t?” I see the beginning of the bewildered look on his face, and I turn my face away from his. I feel my face redden some more. I didn’t think being a virgin was such a bad thing before I saw the look on Armin’s face. So what if I haven’t had sex yet? I know that most of the people at my high school were a bit sex crazed, but I was never interested… until now.

“Hey, it’s okay if you are a virgin. No shame in that.” I sneak a peek at his expression, and I see that his face has softened. “In all honesty, I wish that I would’ve waited to give mine away.” Now, he looks like he is remembering something from the past. He shakes his head and turns back to me. “It’s perfectly okay to wait. Your omega is probably just restless, and they just want someone to spend your next heat with.” He starts to unload his bag. Yeah, that does kind of make since, but this isn’t happening with every male or alpha that I come across; just him. I don’t voice this thought to Armin. I don’t want the situation to get even more weird, so I keep it to myself. So what if I am focused on one person? Armin’s conclusion makes the most sense to me. My omega has just been alone for so long, and they want to be with someone. Why him, though? I haven’t really seen that much of him, but what I have seen is calm and stoic. I don’t know much else about him, other than the fact that he seems to smoke like a chimney. I sigh and look out the window. It has started to rain. I feel Armin nudge my arm. I turn and see that Reiner is making his way to our table. His clothes are damp, but he has a huge smile plastered on his face. 

“Hey, guys!” Reiner gets some annoyed looks from a few students. He seems to realize how loud he was, and he gives them an apologetic wave. “Sorry!” He whispers, but it is still louder than one. I can’t help but laugh at him. 

“Reiner,” Armin and I greet at the same time. He gives us an excited wave, before dropping his backpack on the table. I wince at the sound it makes, and I notice that we gain a few more unsavory looks. If he notices Armin’s eye, he doesn’t comment on it. He seems to have laser focus on our project. He takes out his notes on what we have done so far. Reiner was the one who chose our topic. He wants to delve into the subject of omegas and how more at risk they are for developing eating disorders. I don’t mind. I don’t have a preference on what we do. As Reiner and I begin to discuss what we need to work on today, Armin works on his own homework. We get quite a bit of work done with our rough draft. We thought it was a good idea to start with the paper first before working on the presentation. I was surprised to find that the library has numerous resources on eating disorders and omega psychology. We spend a couple of hours studying before Reiner has to go. We wave our goodbyes, and I turn to Armin. 

“Do you want to head back or stay a little longer?” He is knee deep in his own paper. He shakes his head. 

“No, I want to work on this for a little bit longer, I am almost done with it.” I nod, even though he isn’t paying any attention to me. I stretch and look at him. His left eye is starting to look bad. It is definitely more swollen than it was a couple of hours ago, and a dark purple color has settled around his eye. The bruise is starting to spread towards his hairline and across his nose. I grimace at the sight. He has a tendency to squint his eyes when he is concentrating. He is doing it now, but he grimaces in pain and relaxes his face. 

“Does your eye hurt?” He finally breaks away from his paper, and looks over at me. He seems to take an assessment of himself before nodding. 

“Yeah, it’s throbbing a little.”

“I have some Tylenol if you want some.” He nods, and I offer to go grab a bottle of water from one of the vending machines downstairs. I find enough change in my backpack, and I do a full body stretch as I get up. It feels good to get up and stretch my legs. It almost feels like I have been in a car too long without a break. The vending machines are not in the main part of the library, there is a hallway in the back of the first floor. Honestly, it feels creepy back here. Literally, the only things in the hallway are the machines. There are restrooms further down the hallway. The walls are painted white brick, and there are industrial lights hanging from the ceiling. I jiggle the loose change in my hand as I make my way towards the machines. It is the only sound in the hallway, and it’s kind of eerie. I roll my eyes at my thoughts. I have watched way too many horror movies. As I put the change into the machine, the light above my head flickers. I don’t know whether I should look up at it or not. My entire being is telling me to do it, but the one who watches movies says ‘don’t do it’. I jump when I hear the slam of one of the bathroom doors swinging closed. I look over to see a couple of girls exiting the bathroom. They both have tears in their eyes. I turn back to the vending machine and avoid all eye contact with them. They don’t seem to notice my presence. They are preoccupied with their conversation. 

“Where do you think she went?” One of the girls says. “It’s not like her to just go somewhere without telling me. We made a pact as roommates to tell each other where we were going. She didn’t say anything to me, and I haven’t seen her since last night.” The girl seems to be on the verge of crying. Even though it’s wrong, I can’t help but pay attention to what they are saying. I pretend to be busy with the machine as they walk by. 

“Mina’s parents filed a report, right?” The other girl asks. Mina? Is she missing? I can feel a cold sensation settle into my bones. I wrap my arms around myself and bring the bottle in for a hug. I haven’t seen her since the weekend. She did seem out of sorts then, but she seemed fine when we parted ways. The girls continue to talk.

“Yes, they tried. Of course, the cops can’t do anything about it yet. They say they have to wait at least twenty-four hours to file the report. I just have this feeling that something horrible happened to her.” They go quiet as they exit the hallway. This doesn’t seem real. I mean, I didn’t know her that well, but she seemed nice enough. I think back to the apprehensive and terrified look on her face when she ran into me the other day. Did that have something to do with it? I lean against the wall and cradle the bottle to my chest. She was fine the other day, and now, nobody can find her. I know the police are probably thinking that she ran away or something. Though, one of the girls was right. Something feels wrong and horrible. There is nothing I can do about it though. I hope they find her. I make my way back upstairs to Armin, and I find that Isabel has joined the table. When she sees me approach the table, she lets out a wolf whistle. I roll my eyes and hand Armin the water. I don’t know if I should mention Mina’s disappearance or not. Did they even know her? 

“Do you guys know Mina?” They must have been in the middle of a conversation. They both stare at me in confusion. Isabel is the first to recover. 

“Uh, yeah, her room is down the hall from mine.” I see her questioning gaze, and I know that she wants to know why I brought it up. I want to change the subject, but I am the one who brought this up. 

“Have… have you seen her lately?” Their looks of confusion increase. Armin shrugs, and Isabel tilts her head in thought. 

“Well, we passed each other in the hall… yesterday I think. Why?” Should I tell them? I mean, she hasn’t even been declared missing yet. For all we know, she could have run away with some alpha. Even so, there could be a million reasons why she might have run away. I remember the look on her face outside of the alleyway, and my gut says something isn’t right. 

“I overheard her roommate talking about her, and that she hasn’t seen her since yesterday.” Isabel shrugs her shoulders. 

“I do that all the time. I used to sneak out to meet Furlan…” She lets the sentence fade before she shakes her head. “Anyway, it’s probably no big deal. I bet she went out with her boyfriend and didn’t want to risk getting caught on the way back in.” Armin accepts the explanation, but my stomach still feels unsettled. It just doesn’t seem right. Maybe I am just being paranoid about it all. I don’t know Mina that well to really make any assumptions about her. I slump back in my chair, as Armin redirects the conversation. 

“So, how are you and Furlan?” At the question, Isabel seems to shrink into herself, and she begins to fidget with the books on the table. Her eyes avoid ours. They dart to every part of the room except to us. “Isabel?” She lets out a huff before shooting us an apprehensive expression.

“I… umm… I might have done something.” I can feel Armin freeze beside me. I do the same, as I remember all of the plans that she had cooked up the other day. I mean, yeah, I am sure that there are hundreds of omegas out there who have cooked up half-brain plans to get back at their alphas, but none of them go through with it. Alphas can be volatile. You never know for sure how they are going to react. I have seen some videos online, where the omega does some random prank on their alpha, and a lot of the reactions are… bad. Granted, some of the pranks went overboard to begin with. I mean, putting fake hickeys on yourself to see how your other half will handle it? How did they think that would turn out? I roll my eyes before focusing back to the conversation. 

“Issy, what did you do?” Armin asks, but she still refuses to make eye contact with either of us. She brings her other hand up and starts to wring her fingers. I can feel the nervous energy radiating off of her. It is making my omega nervous as well. I shift in my seat to get rid of the nerves. 

“I… might have…” She then mutters something that neither Armin nor I can hear. We both lean forward to try to catch what she is trying to say. 

“What?” Armin and I say at the same time. 

“I flirted with Flagon!” She looks ashamed at the admittance. I have no idea who that is. I look over at Armin, to see that he is in shock, face pale. Am I supposed to know who that is? At our silence, Isabel looks over and grimaces as Armin’s expression. “I know! It was an awful thing to do, but I didn’t know what else to do!” At this point, we have gained so many stares from the surrounding students, but we don’t care. 

“Didn’t know what else to do?” Armin gives her an incredulous look. “How about not doing it, and trying to sort it out like adults.” Armin is not yelling, but there is a hardness to his tone. A blush spreads over her checks. 

“I tried!” Which earns a ‘shush’ from multiple people. She turns to them and sticks out her tongue. Classy. “I called and texted him. I even waited for him outside one of his classrooms, and he completely ignored me. So, yes! I didn’t know what else to do.” She takes a few deep breaths. She isn’t yelling as loud as she had been, but it is by no means close to quiet. “I kept thinking about it, and I decided to go ahead and do it. All I could think of was doing it with someone that Furlan can’t stand.” She ends her explanation. She looks off to the side and huffs. 

“He is going to kill him.” I turn my wide eyes to Armin. Kill him? He catches my gaze and rolls his eyes. “Obviously, not for real.” I just shrug my shoulders at him and sink down into my chair. How am I supposed to know that? I have talked to Furlan one time, and it was not a very polite conversation. I can’t believe Isabel actually flirted with someone else. How did she think this would fix their problem? If he wasn’t mad at her before, he will definitely be mad now. I tune out their heated conversation about how to deal with the situation. As far as I’m concerned, she just has to deal with the consequences. I know that she meant well by what she did, but she also knew that it was wrong. As they continue to talk, I look out of the window. It’s still raining. What would it be like to have a potential mate? I think back to the male outside. Is he still there? I sit straighter in my chair at the thought. All of a sudden, I have an urge to go outside. I glance at my companions to see if they are paying any attention to me. They are still in their discussion. I wonder if they would notice if I got up and went outside? Armin probably would; he notices everything. I pout at the thought. Already, Armin seems to notice my change in demeanor, because he keeps shooting me confused looks. I glance around the room for something I can do that will get me away from him. I don’t recognize any of the other students. Who cares if I just get up and go? Armin can’t stop me. I can do what I want. Isn’t this the time in someone's life, that you are supposed to try new things? I am about to just get up and leave when a resounding ‘boom’ is heard from downstairs. If it is even possible, the library goes even more silent. We stare wide eyed at each other for a moment before focusing our eyes where the entrance is located. Everyone is looking in that direction. Everything in the library is dead quiet for a moment, until we hear a set of footsteps going through the ground floor of the library. Are they looking for someone? I can hear the whimpers from some of the omegas downstairs. What is going on? Whoever it is seems to be down with the ground floor, and they are now making their way up with stairs. I look over to Isabel to ask her a question, only to find that she is completely frozen. She is even shaking. She looks terrified. 

“Issy?” I whisper, but she pays no attention to me. Her eyes are trained on the stairs. I train my own eyes to the stairs. It’s only when the putrid scent of angry alpha hits my nose, that I know what is going on. I grimace and cover my nose with the sleeve of my sweater. My omega doesn’t want to acknowledge the presence of this alpha. Not with our heat being so close. We cannot submit to this alpha. He’s not the right one. I freeze at my own thoughts. Dammit, the suppressants must be wearing off. I should have brought some with me. My thoughts are broken by Furlan making it to the first floor. I look away from him, and my other hand snakes up to cover my exposed neck. I keep my gaze locked on Isabel. I only focus on her. I can’t submit to him. When Isabel sees that it is Furlan making rounds of the library, she lets out a low whine. I can see the inner battle between her and her omega in her eyes. I can barely hear his footsteps as he approaches our table. There is a slight difference though. When he was downstairs, his steps were determined and forceful. Now that he has found his target, his steps are more predator-like; a hunter stalking his prey. They are quiet and controlled. He is hunting her. I don’t see the point though, she is paralyzed with fear. She isn’t going anywhere. Maybe it’s the thrill of her knowing she is caught? 

“Isabel.” I jump at the deep voice, and I squeeze my neck a little bit tighter. Furlan sounds so calm, but there is an undertone of fury. Isabel doesn’t answer him. She shifts in her seat, but she maintains direct eye contact with him. In the process of that, she ends up scooting her chair back some. I shoot her a confused look. She is not thinking of running, right? She has tilted her neck to the side, but it is not in complete submission. He lets out a growl, but she just glares at him. He repeats her name, and she scoots her chair back a little more. My eyes widen. She does plan to run. Where the hell does she plan to run? They stare at each other for several more minutes, before Isabel makes her move. She bolts from her chair and heads towards the maze of bookcases. Furlan curses under his breath and jumps over the table. I lose sight of them, but I can still hear the hurried footsteps. I can almost trace their path with my eyes from the sounds of their footsteps. I finally see Isabel run down an aisle of bookcases toward our table. Furlan is not far behind her. He is gaining on her, too. In all honesty, it is like a slow motion scene of a cheetah taking down a gazelle. She tries her best to gain a last burst of speed but to no avail. He catches her by her shirt and swings her over his shoulder in one motion. She lets out a frustrated scream.

“Let me go!” She starts to pound his back with her small fists. “Put me down you fucking neanderthal!” He ignores her antics and makes his way back to our table. He stretches out to pick up her backpack with the arm that isn’t holding Isabel to his shoulder. He gives us a nod as he passes us. It’s a comical sight, watching Isabel trying to escape his grasp with flying fists and feet. As they are heading down the stairs, she spots us. “Guys! Help me!” She pleads. Armin and I look at each other before looking back to her and shaking our heads in unison. “Fucking traitors!” She continues her assault on his back. I can’t help but laugh at the scene. I look over, and I see that Armin has an amused expression on his face. I don’t know why she is throwing such a fit about going with him. From the performance that they just showed the entire library, his intentions aren't to harm her. Lucky duck. I sigh at myself. I can’t wait for my heat to be over, at least then these thoughts will go away. Despite the events that just happened, I still want to go outside. My chances of getting that accomplished now are slim. I sink back in my chair and pout. I lean my head back so I am looking at the ceiling. Is it too much to ask? Maybe I can make up something about wanting to get fresh air. I mean, we have been in this stuffy library for hours. I perk up at the idea, and I am about to tell Armin what I am about to do when I catch the stare of someone. He is… more intimidating than Furlan, that’s for sure. Freakishly tall, too. Well kept blond hair, piercing blue eyes, and… extremely bushy eyebrows. His face gives nothing away, but his eyes say a lot. He is interested in what he is looking at. In my opinion, he is not as handsome as the one outside. It takes me a moment, but I realize that he is not staring at me. He is staring at Armin, who is back to working on his paper. I nudge Armin, and point over to the man.

“Hey, do you know him?” He looks up at me before looking at where I am pointing. Armin’s face brightens as he lays eyes on the man. He is about to get up and walk over, but the man’s expression stops him. The former expression has morphed into one of fury. The man’s eyes have turned hard, and he stands up to walk over to us. Oh no, not again. I feel the blond’s oppressive energy before he reaches the table. I feel like I am suffocating. My hand resumes its place over my mouth and nose. Armin and the man do not break eye contact. I have to commend Armin though, he doesn’t break under the pressure. This man doesn’t make a scene like Furlan did. He casually makes his way to our table and takes a seat across from Armin. Nobody says anything for a minute. Slowly, the man turns his head towards me with an expressionless face. 

“That was your cue to leave.” I jump at his voice, and I scramble to gather all of my things. I look at Armin, to see that he is now glaring at the man. Armin turns to look at me, but I just shake my head at him. I leave the table without saying anything. As I stumble down the stairs, I try to make sure that I don’t drop anything. I manage to shove everything into my backpack as I walk towards the front door. I also manage to hold my breath during the trip. It’s just too much. The smell is disgusting. When I finally make it outside, I take several deep breaths of fresh, wet air. While I am basking in the clean air, I catch a whiff of the rancid stench of smoke. My nose scrunches up in distaste, but then I remember who that smell is associated with. My head whips to the side to see that he is still in the same position as earlier. Has he even moved? I take this time to look him over. The hood is still up. He is wearing jeans with a baggy sweatshirt. Even though his physique is hidden from me, I can tell that he is strong. I think it’s the aura that he emits. He seems very… unapproachable. I can feel my blood start to heat up again. I bite my lip and look towards the door. How long will Armin be? I look back at the man and throw caution to the wind. I can talk to whoever I want to. The first steps are tentative and unsure. My omega is fed up with the shy approach and pushes us forward. I stop about a foot away from him. As soon as I am in close proximity to him, it’s like I forget how to start a conversation. How does one start a conversation with gloomy and aloof strangers? My omega has a few ideas, and each one of them are more unsavory than the last. Not for polite conversation. I am about to start with the standard greeting when he starts to speak.

“You smell like shit.” I am taken aback by his comment and his voice. His voice is deep, and it sends a shiver down my spine. It takes me a moment to register what he just said. I look down at the ground, and in spite of myself, I sniff myself. I grimace at the mix of scents that are on me. He’s not wrong. I smell like angry, possessive alpha. I barely distinguish my own scent from the mix. I can feel my omega mentally slap ourselves in the face. Why didn’t we check before we approached him? Of course, we smell like shit after the dominance display that just happened in there. I pout. I feel awkward now. I don’t know if I should stay and talk, or walk away. I decide it’s probably better to leave. Before I leave, though, I lean into him to catch his scent. He smells like something spicy and hot. My temperature goes up a little bit more. He turns to look at me, and I quickly lean back. “Why are-” He cuts himself off when he sees me. “Oh, it’s you.” He does his own appraisal of me, but doesn’t say anything else. I scrunch my eyebrows in confusion. Did he think I was someone else? A spike of jealousy runs through me. Does he have someone else? His neck is covered, so I can’t see if he has a mark or not. I am really hoping he doesn’t have one. I feel my hope raise a little, but that doesn’t change the fact that I do smell awful. I can feel my omega take control once they sense my insecurity. I let out a wave of pheromones to bring out my own scent. I lean against the wall next to him. I let my bag slide off my shoulder and let it drop to the ground. I never take my eyes away from his icy stare. I lick my lips.

“Were you expecting someone else?” I ask as my hand comes up to play with my ear before sliding down my exposed neck and running along my shoulder. His eyes follow the movement of my hand, and they dilate in response. I smile before tilting my head in the other direction to catch his eyes with my own. I raise my eyebrows at him in question. He straightens up before looking around. Satisfied that no one seems to be watching, he takes a step closer to me. 

“Yes, but this is much better.” I find myself beaming up at him. He is not that much taller than I am, maybe an inch or two. Granted, I am only five foot two inches. Now that he is closer, I can smell him better. Cinnamon. There is a touch of mint in there too. I question if it is a part of his natural scent or a mint to help cover up the smell of cigarettes. I want to take another step towards him, but if I do I will be right up against him. My omega thinks that is a wonderful idea, but I manage to hold back. When we are this close, I can see his features better. His narrow eyes, small nose, and thin lips. He has dark bags under his eyes, like he hasn’t slept in… ever. He has a flat affect despite the signs of interest; well guarded. He looks to be around my age. The air between us is thick. I decide to break the silence before my omega decides to take action. 

“Eren.” I extend my hand out. He glances at my hand before returning the gesture. If I thought his stare set me on fire, his touch was on a whole other level. I literally thought my hand would disintegrate from the amount of heat it produced. 

“Levi.” He doesn’t let go of my hand. Instead, he pulls me a little bit closer to him. I gulp and continue to stare into his eyes. They look hungry. “That was a nice show you put on earlier.” I feel my face hit up remembering how I strutted around. I huff out a laugh and look at the ground. His other hand comes up to guide my face to look at him. His touch is too much. I want to run away and stay at the same time. Is preheat with someone always like this? Not being able to think when you are around them. I can’t concentrate. “Don’t worry, I enjoyed it.” He says as his hand trails down my neck. Holy shit. My heart is in overdrive, and I am pretty sure he can feel it through the pulse in my neck. My knees are weak just from his touch. His grip tightens on my neck, to bring my face closer to his. My mouth is dry. I can feel his warm breath on my face. My hands are shaking with anticipation. I unintentionally lick my lips again, and that brings his attention down to them. I feel his nose brush against mine. I jump a little at the cold feeling of it. My eyes flutter and close. I really, really want this. I lean in to seal the deal. 

“Eren!” I jump and turn around to see that Armin is the one who called out to me. He looks at me with a bemused expression. My cheeks heat up even more, as I turn around to face Levi. He has stepped away from me and is back to his previous position against the wall. “Eren, come on. It’s time to go.” I want nothing more than to stay here, but I know it’s not the best course of action. I sigh and collect my bag from the ground. 

“See you around, I guess.” All I receive is a half-hearted wave before he retrieves a cigarette from his pocket. I pout as I walk towards Armin, who just chuckles and entwines his arm with mine. He takes an umbrella from his bag and opens it up. He holds it while we walk away. When we are a good distance away, he speaks. 

“I came just in time, right?” He laughs when I glare at him. 

“No, you didn’t. I really fucking wanted that kiss.” He laughs a little louder, and I can’t help but join him. Maybe he did come at the right time? I mean, I don’t even know the guy that well. Well, just because I don’t know him now, doesn’t mean that I won’t ever know him. I grin. I turn around to catch one last look at Levi. He is not alone, though. The tall blond from earlier has joined Levi. They seem to be having a serious conversation. Of course, I can’t hear anything they are saying, but I can’t help but wonder. I stop in the middle of the sidewalk, and in turn, Armin stops with me. He looks back and rolls his eyes at the scene. “Who is that?” Armin glances back with sad eyes before we resume walking.

“No one. Just some alpha poking his nose in business that’s not his.” I raise my eyebrows at him. I remember him talking about someone he had met at the library that he really liked. Was that him? Judging from Armin’s reaction, their conversation did not go well. I want to press him on the subject, but he has been through a lot today. I glance back one more time, to find that both of the men are staring at us. I quickly turn my head back. A blush finds its way onto my cheeks again, and I smile at the feeling. I really can’t wait to see him again, and I hope that it’s soon.


	6. Cinnamon Kisses

I have never seen so many sex toys in my life. I didn’t even know that there were this many to choose from. I feel uncomfortable as I stand in the entryway of the adult shop, unsure of what to do next. When Issy had texted me to ‘meet in the shop at the center’, I never would have anticipated this. The outside of the store looked normal enough when I first approached it. I should have realized something was off by the shaded windows. It was totally unsuspecting with a name like ‘Sweet Treats’, and my idiotic mind thought it was a candy shop. After realizing what it really was, I couldn’t help but feel stupid. Why would a heat center have a candy store? It would make more sense to have… this kind. My sweaty hands grip the strap of my bag, and I twist it in nervousness. I can hear the low hum of rock music coming from somewhere in the store. I can feel the slack-jaw expression on my face as a glance around the room full of aisles upon aisles of toys, oils, candles, and there was even a section of clothing in the back. I look to my right and see that the cashier is giving me an amused expression. I quickly turn my head straight, and close my mouth. God, this is so awkward. I don’t see Armin or Issy. Should I walk around and pretend like I have an interest in these things? 

“Excuse me.” I jump and let out a yelp. I turn around to see that a couple is trying to enter the shop. I hear the cashier let out a laugh, and I throw a glare in their direction. I mutter an apology to the couple before scampering away down one of the aisles. Why in the hell did Issy want to meet here? Why couldn’t we have met outside the building like normal people? After walking down several aisles, I stop. I look up and down the aisle to make sure no one else is nearby. My shoulders relax, and I bring my hands up to rub my eyes. I really need to talk to Issy about appropriate meeting places. I look up and my face heats up at what is in this aisle. Dildos. I can’t believe that they have an entire aisle dedicated to them. They come in all shapes, sizes and colors. There is even one that has an inflatable knot. I can’t help but be in awe all over again. I mean, I know that people use these items during and out of heat, but I have never imagined there being such a… selection to choose from. I gulp as my eyes land on one that is literally the size of my forearm. How can anyone fit that in any hole? Just thinking about trying, makes my body shift with uneasiness. I had never been one to use toys during my heats. It had always just been me and my hands. I bite my lip as a stare contemplatively at the toys. Looking at all of the different sizes, makes me wonder how big Levi might be. My whole body heats up at the thought. I shake my head. I shouldn’t be thinking things like this about someone I hardly know. Unfortunately, my omega has firmly grasped the thought with both hands and runs with it. A scene begins to form in my head of the raven absolutely nailing me into the bed-

“Hey, Eren!” I jump for the second time that day. 

“Mother fucker!” I yell. My face heats up even more at how loud I was. Armin and Issy just laugh at my reaction. I roll my eyes at them and shove past them to head towards the entrance of the store. I don’t go far. Armin grabs me by the collar to stop my progress. “What? We aren’t here to look at sex toys.” Issy gives me a knowing look before browsing through the aisle. I stand frozen for a moment. I was hoping that when they got here, that we would leave the store. I guess they want to do some shopping. I look over at Armin, and notice that his eye looks worse today. It’s so dark. I reach over and tug on his jacket sleeve. His smiling face turns to me. Should I even bring it up? He doesn’t look like he is bothered much by it. I shake my head at his questioning look. It can wait until later. He doesn’t look like he is going to let it go, but then his phone chimes. He wanders out of the aisle while immersing himself in his phone. 

“So, Eren, what were you thinking about?” I blush at her question, remembering exactly what I had pictured in my mind. I shake my head to get rid of it. I look to see both of them giving me smirks. I raise my eyebrows in question. “It’s okay if you want to get one. I have several! I have a pink and-” I cut her off by putting my hands over my ears. 

“I don’t need to know that!” 

“Yeah, you can’t taint Eren’s virgin ears with your sins!” I hear Armin say from the next aisle over. He huffs out a laugh. My cheeks will never recover from today. 

“Wait, wait, wait! You’re still a virgin!” I grimace at how loud she is. I know that it’s not that uncommon for someone my age to still be a virgin. Why is she so shocked by it? Her eyes are wide with shock, and she is staring intently at me. I give her a hesitant nod in affirmation. She lets out a squeal of delight, before rushing over to envelope me in a hug. What the heck? It is official, she has to be crazy. “This is great! We should totally check out the book!” Book? What in the world is she talking about? At my puzzled expression, she lets out an annoyed huff. “Most heat centers have one. Basically, it is a book full of volunteers to help omegas through their heat. They are all betas, of course. It would get kind of messy if alphas were involved!” My omega is instantly against this idea. Apparently, we already had our ‘chosen one’. I internally roll my eyes. She lets out a giggle. “I have never gotten the chance to lay eyes on it because I always have Furlan with me. I tried to look at it once, but Furlan put a hard stop to that.” She pouted, and I can’t help but laugh at her antics. Speaking of. 

“How are you and Furlan?” I get a beam and a satisfied grin in response. She tilts her head to the left and moves her collar to the side. I gasp as I see the outline of a bite mark on her neck.

“No way!” I take a step towards her to get a closer look at it. It’s not a permanent mark by any means, but the intent behind it is clear. This omega is taken. Permanent marks are made during heats. I vaguely remember that it has something to do with the hormone levels at that time of heat. Issy is now bouncing in excitement. I see Armin’s blonde head coming down to see what all the fuss is about. His own eyes widen once he gets a good look at her neck. He reaches up to brush her ponytail aside, careful not to touch the mark. After he gets past the shock, he lets out a low whistle. 

“Way to go Issy…” He stares at it for a moment longer, before looking away. I don’t miss the look of longing in his eye. I understand. It is what every omega wants. To have someone that you know will always be there for you. A mark, even a temporary one, is binding. The effects aren’t as strong as a permanent mark, but you can still feel the other person. Armin shouldn’t worry though, we are still young. We have plenty of time to figure out this mess called life and find someone worth ourselves. I am happy for Issy though, and I can’t help but wonder if this will lead to a more permanent mark in the near future. 

“Right! I couldn’t believe it when he suggested it! I mean, I really want a lasting one, but I am super happy with this one…” Her expression drops a little. “I know that I kind of forced his hand, and I feel bad about it. I just wanted him to understand how I felt…” I mean, yeah, she did manipulate him into making the decision that he did. I don’t know what to say to her that will make her feel any better, so I stay quiet. She shakes herself out of her thoughts, and she looks back over the toys. “So, which one are you going to get?” I splutter at her question. 

“N-none!” She shoots me a skeptical look. 

“Don’t tell me you’ve never used a toy before either.” When I don’t answer her, she busts out laughing. It’s not that big of a deal, right? I wasn’t insecure about it before, but I am now. She is in full blown hysterics now, with tears flowing out of her eyes. I feel my whole body heat up with embarrassment, and I can’t look at anything but the floor. My toes curl in my shoes. I bite my lip as I feel tears prick my own eyes, but for a different reason. I’m usually not this emotional. I guess with my heat coming up on Tuesday, it can’t be helped. Armin seems to notice my discomfort, and hits Issy on the arm. I can’t help but feel grateful as I see his glare directed at her. It makes me feel more comfortable with my sexual decisions. When she notices my demeanor, she sobers up immediately. “It’s not a bad thing! I was just shocked. I’m sorry!” She pulls me in for a big hug. I squirm in her embrace; I have never been a big fan of hugs. She lets me go and stares intently at my face. “So, you have never used anything during your heats before?” Didn’t we just go over this? I feel some annoyance at the repetitive questioning.

“No.” 

“How do you get through them?” Is she serious? I look at Armin, and he shrugs his shoulders. I look back at Issy and purse my lips. I slowly raise my hands so they are by my face and wiggle my fingers at her. As I do this, I give her a suggestive smile. She huffs and slaps my arm. I laugh.

“I know that smart-ass! I mean, it’s a lot to do it by yourself, even with the toys…” I shrug.

“It’s not so bad, especially since I have been on my own since the beginning.” 

“I think I would die if I had nothing to help me through them. Fortunately for me, I have the most amazing person to spend my heats with!” Before she can go any further, Armin speaks. 

“You should get one. It will be a little awkward at first, but you will get used to it.” I thought about it for a moment. It can’t be that bad, right? Everyone uses them, and it probably would make things a little bit easier. I slowly nod my head and turn to look at the assortment of toys. Where the hell do I even begin? Well, at least I can eliminate the gigantic one. There is no way I am going to try that monstrosity. When in doubt, ask.

“Which one should I get?” Neither one of them hesitated to give me the help that I needed. They took turns answering any questions that I had, and I was extremely grateful that I didn’t have to go to the store employee for help. I settled on an average sized black one. Once I had decided, they wanted to have a look around the rest of the store. Even though I was in the middle of an adult shop, I still felt the need to hide what was in my hands. I just need to buck up. There is nothing wrong with getting one, it is a perfectly normal purchase. I’m sure my face was aflame as I walked them throughout the store. Of course, Armin wanted to stop at the book section. I was flabbergasted at how many options that they had: different positions, how to make your partner feel good, the inner workings of BDSM, how to maximize pleasure. He did end up choosing one, but I didn’t get a look at the title. Issy, on the other hand, wanted to look at the expanse of lingerie that they had. This is another thing that I am uncomfortable with. I know that it is basically fancy underwear, but it has a certain intent behind it. Something is expected when you wear something like this. I can barely imagine myself wearing anything like this, but I can’t help but wonder if Levi would like it. Feeling his eyes on me with all of my clothes on was an experience in itself. What would it be like with barely anything on? I can almost feel my eyes dilate. That would be on a whole other level. I shake my head. I can’t wait until my heat is done and over with. Maybe then all of these thoughts and images will go away. I browse the section, and even though I am not getting anything, I find myself overwhelmed with all of the colors and designs. Even if I wanted to wear something like this for him, and I doubt that would ever happen, I wouldn’t know what to choose. I mosey over to Issy to see her eyeing a dark green, see through babydoll dress. The color certainly suits her. 

“Are you going to get it?” She jumps a little, and I feel some satisfaction in knowing that I scared someone today. 

“I should, shouldn’t I?” I shrug in response. She ends up getting it, and we finally leave the store with our purchases. My shoulders relax as we exit the store, and I can safely hide my purchase inside my backpack. I am actually excited to take a look at the room here. Issy said that they are nice. We meet up with one of the associates, and she leads us up to one to one of the empty rooms. It was a lot nicer than I thought it would be. Upon entering the room, there is a small living area to the left, with a sectional, coffee table, and a television. To the right is a small kitchen. Straight ahead though, there is a small hallway that leads to the bedroom. I can see a huge bed through the doorway. It has to be a king size. I have never slept in a bed that big before. As I walk through the suite, the associate drones on and on about mindless facts about the room. I am not really paying much attention though. I am too entranced by it all. All of my previous heats had been spent at Petra’s house in one of her back bedrooms. Since most of the families that I ended up with had at least one alpha with them, I couldn’t stay there during my heat. So, Petra had graciously offered up one of her rooms. Of course, most of the families didn’t hesitate to take up the offer. They didn’t want to spend money on putting me up somewhere else for a week. It will be really nice here, I can feel it. 

“The doors have an automatic locking system in place.” That caught my attention.

“Locking system?” She is startled out of her explanation, like no one has ever asked a question during her monotonous speech before. She actually looks kind of excited that I did ask a question. 

“Ah, yes! We usually have the person or couple arrive the day before the heat. You set the time that you want the door to lock. It could be the day you arrive or the start day, either will work. The door is then locked for the duration of the heat, unless there is an emergency, of course. As you see, there are buttons by the entryway and in this room.” I look over to where she is pointing to see a pair of red and black buttons. “The red one is to symbolize when the heat is over. When this one is pressed, it will signal us that your heat is over. You are free to leave your room whenever you wish, just let us know when you do. The black one, is for an emergent situation.” She doesn’t elaborate on the subject, but I can imagine that life endangering situations is what it is used for. She continues on with her speech as I enter the bathroom. The bathtub is huge. You could probably fit five people in it with no problem. On the far wall, they have an assortment of soaps and bubble baths. I reach to feel the towels, and they are the softest things I have ever felt in my life. Issy wasn’t kidding when she said that this place catered to omegas. My omega is dizzy with happiness. I kind of want to strip and take a bath right now. Issy slides up beside me. 

“Amazing, isn’t it?” I can only nod in response. “Furlan and I have been coming here for years. They even have a pool/spa down on the lower level.” I hum. 

“I think… this will work.” I say, looking around one last time. This place is leagues better than any place I’ve had my heat before. Not that Petra wasn’t unaccommodating or anything, but it will be nice to be here by myself. Not have to worry about anyone coming in to check up on me at inopportune moments. 

“Great! We can head downstairs to finish up the paperwork!” What I really like about this place is that they have heat kits. They are filled with different sizes of blankets, pillows, sheets, and more. The amount of colors that were offered was overwhelming, but I settled on a kit that had dark greens and blues. After finalizing everything, we left the center to get something to eat. I was starving. Even though I had eaten right before I headed out, I felt like I could eat a horse. We settled on a little diner that was down the street. Armin fell back as we neared it. I turn back towards him, but Issy continues on.

“What’s the matter?” He bit his lip as he glanced through the window of the small restaurant. 

“Um, I kind of asked someone to meet us here.” I look through the window myself to see the blonde hulk sitting at one of the tables. I see him start to turn his head, and I bolt up and turn back to Armin. 

“Are you kidding!? Why?” I admit, my one conversation with the man was overshadowed by my meeting with Levi. I mean, yeah, he could have been more polite about it, but that was only a blip on my radar at that moment. 

“I know, I know… I just thought that it would be good for you two to properly meet, and put the first one behind us.” Meet? Why would he want us to meet up? Unless… 

“Erkel? That’s,” I say while pointing at the blonde giant, “is really your beau to be?” He bursts out laughing.

“No! I mean, hopefully he will be.” He is blushing now. It’s a stark contrast with the dark purple of his eye. “His name is Erwin, and I would really like it if you two got along… I like him.” I pretend to give it some thought. Of course, I will try for Armin. He has been nothing but nice to me since we met. If he legitimately likes this guy, then I am willing to give it a shot. 

“Fine… but he better be nice this time, or I might dump my shake on him.” I say as I enter the diner. I hear him snort behind me. Issy is already sitting at the table talking with Erwin. Do they know each other? They seem deep in conversation. Maybe they know each other through Furlan? I guess it doesn’t matter. I must admit though, as annoying as he is, he does look good. In fitted jeans and a tight, white t-shirt, I’d be a fool not to take notice. I take the seat across from Erwin, so Armin can sit beside him. Armin is looking at him, like he is the only person in the room. Like all of the answers in the universe is held by this one man. Even though I do have my fingers crossed that this will work out for him, I don’t think that I will ever be able to rely on a single person for everyday situations. It makes me wonder how I looked at Levi that day. Was it just a lustful look, or was there something more behind it? Erwin starts the conversation. 

“Eren, it’s nice to meet you.” He has extended his arm across the table for a handshake. I stare at it for a moment before extending my own. His grasp is surprisingly gentle for a giant. He has calloused hands; rough. I quickly retract mine when the waiter comes over. Everyone looks at me when I give my order of a double cheeseburger with everything, large fries, and a chocolate shake. 

“What? I’m hungry.” Both of the omegas shrug it off. Omegas tend to eat a lot more the days leading up to their heat. I don’t mean a little; a lot. We are like bears getting ready to hibernate for the winter. I guess it makes sense, since we don’t really have any time to eat during our heat anyway. We are busy doing other things. As I look over at the Jolly Green Giant, he has a knowing look on his face. I scrunch my eyebrows at him in question. 

“Your heat is coming up.” It’s not even a question. I feel affronted by the question. What does it matter to him? I glare at him.

“I don’t think that is any of your business.” My words come out harsh, and he holds his hands up as if in surrender. My omega didn’t like his line of questioning. Obviously, heats are private. Usually, omegas only talk about their heats with other omegas or their chosen partner; never with strangers. He has to know this. Why even bring it up? 

“Just making an observation.” I purse my lips and cross my arms over my chest. Well, this is going great. Why can’t he make observations about normal things like the weather? When I don't say anything, he continues. “I actually wanted to meet with you today to apologize for yesterday. You see, I was concerned and caught off guard when I saw Armin’s injury yesterday. I was a little… upset, you understand?” I didn’t like the way he worded things, it was a little too… practiced. I admit though, seeing Armin with a black eye is a little off putting. If Erwin really was interested in Armin in a serious manner, then I could understand where the hostile demeanor came from. He wants the omega to be safe, and seeing a black eye on the one you are trying to court isn’t exactly what one would want to see. I decided to let this incident slide for the sake of my friend. He wants me to give this a chance, so I will. 

“Yeah.” I hear Armin let out a relieved sigh. He really wants us to get along. I glance back over to Erwin to see him looking at Armin now. Erwin’s expression has softened, and I can feel my own do the same. He better treat Armin well. I don’t care how big of a giant he is, I could take him. Well, I will try to at least. At last, our food arrives, and I couldn’t be happier. I wanted to inhale my meal, but I made myself eat like a normal person for the sake of everyone else at the table. They all made idle conversation, but I didn’t feel like talking. I began to feel uncomfortable for some reason. My body was warmer, I was being watched. I never really got when people say that they could ‘feel eyes’ on them, but now I totally get it. All of my hair is standing on end. This is not the pleasant feeling I got with Levi. I almost feel… dirty. I glance around the room, but everyone is either busy talking or eating. I try to shake off the feeling and continue to eat, but it won’t go away. I shift in my seat, and try to concentrate on my meal. I’m not very hungry anymore. The only one at the table who notices my discomfort is Erwin. He does a great job at keeping most of his attention on Armin, but he glances at me every once and a while. My stomach feels like there is lead in it. I glance around again, but no one is looking at me. I begin to bob my foot up and down. I feel like a caged animal that needs to run away as fast as it can, before the danger strikes. My heart is beating so fast, it feels like it might sputter out. As a last ditch effort, I look out of the window and see a figure standing across the street. I can see them clearly, because they are in the shadows of the surrounding buildings. I just know that this is the person staring at me. 

“Eren, you should come!” Issy’s loud voice breaks the spell. 

“What?” 

“The party tomorrow night! You should come with us!”

“Yeah… sure.” I halfheartedly answer. I look back out of the window to find that the person is walking away and still staying within the shadows of the buildings. My eyes follow them, until they are out of sight. My heart slows as they walk away, but I can feel my fingers shaking. I look over to see that Erwin has tracked the person, too. He then turns to look at me and raises an eyebrow. Do I know them? Of course not. I wouldn’t be so freaked out if I did. I shake my head, and he sits back in thought. 

“It will be so much fun! We can drink and watch the fights!” Issy says as she throws some punches in the air at an invisible opponent. I laugh at how silly she is.

“Fights?” I ask as I play with the fries on my plate. I thought parties were supposed to be full for drunk people grinding all over each other and doing drugs. I had never thought that fights would be a part of the equation. Granted, I had never been invited to a party, let alone gone to one. I can only imagine what shenanigans go on, but fighting? Issy gives nods excitedly.

“Yep! I am talking about people throwing punches, getting bloodied up, and sometimes, they even lose some teeth! I tried to keep some as a memento one time, but Big Bro said it was unsanitary.” I almost choke on my shake. Only Issy would think of trying to keep someone else's tooth as a souvenir. 

“Big Bro?” 

“We are not blood related, but we did grow up together. He may not be blood, but he is still my brother, you know?” No, I didn’t know. I was an only child, and, with most of the families that I lived with, the kids were not that friendly. I guess it had something to do with taking their parents' attention away from them. Sometimes, I didn’t make an effort to befriend them either. It just seemed pointless, to make friends with them, just to never see each other again. Some were nice enough, but others were downright cruel. I shake away the bad memories, and focus on the conversation. We spend another hour just talking before Armin decides it time to go back to study. As we step outside into the chilly night air of late August, the image of the man comes back to me. Despite knowing that they have already left, I still look around. We go our separate ways, Erwin one way, and the rest of us back to campus. I might not be able to feel the eyes on me anymore, but I can’t help but look behind me every so often. 

*******

Once again, I find myself in front of a mirror. This time, instead of wanting to look my best, I feel that I should hide everything. I wore jeans, a black hoodie, and my Converse. My omega is convinced that we have found ‘the one’ to spend out heat with. What was the point of showing off my body to everyone else? I can’t help rolling my eyes at the omega. It’s. Not. Going. To. Happen. I don’t know how many times I will say this throughout my heat, but I have a feeling it is going to be a lot. I mean really, the only thing I know about him is his name. For all I know, he could have just been attracted to my preheat smell, and the fact that I was showing a lot more skin than I normally do. I start to bite on my thumbnail. Should I change? What if he is there and ignores me? I let out a huff. I shouldn’t care this much about what he thinks. I go to run my hand through my hair, and my fingers catch on my earring. I tuck my hair behind my ear, to get a better look at the simple stud. I wish I could change it, but I still have a couple of weeks before I can. 

“Is that what you’re wearing?” I look at Armin through the mirror. He looks amazing. Solid black tights, dark blue casual dress that reaches mid-thigh, and black flats. He let his hair down, and he went with a more natural make-up look. His black eye is still visible. I would imagine that it would be difficult to cover it completely; it’s pretty dark. I look back at my frame. Now… Now I want to change. 

“Why?” I can hear the insecurity in my own voice. “I should change, right?” I start to back away from the mirror, but Armin stops me. 

“No! Sorry, that came out wrong… What you are wearing is fine. I just… I just thought I might have overdone it, is all.” I laugh at how silly we both are. It shouldn’t matter what we wear, it was just a dumb party. 

“No, you look great! I just don’t feel like dressing up…” He nods in understanding. “So, is the giant going to be there?” He glares playfully at me.

“Yes… ” He looks down at the ground while biting his lip. I scrunch my eyebrows as a thought hits me.

“Isn’t he a little old to be in college?” I don’t know his exact age, but he does look significantly older than us. Armin shrugs his shoulders. 

“He says that he is one of the master programs here.” Huh. I never thought about going that far with school. It seems like a lot of work. I actually plan to do the bare minimum with a bachelor's degree, but to each their own. He must be super smart like Armin. Perfect match, I guess. Armin is messing with his hair, when there is a knock on the door. Well, pounding is more like it. Issy. She said that she would come get us whenever Furlan got here. Apparently, we are going to ride with him to the party. Fun. I sigh to myself. I shouldn’t be this way. It will be fine.

“Are you guys ready to party!?” Not really, but it doesn’t hurt to try. Armin is more excited than I am, but I have a feeling that that has to do with a certain someone. She talks animatedly as we make our way outside and towards the parking lot. The campus feels different at night. During the day, the place is crawling with students trying to get here or there. Now, it’s like a ghost town, and the creepy street lights with flickering lights don’t help the atmosphere. When I see the familiar figure of Furlan, I step up my pace. As Issy greets him with a kiss, Armin and I quickly file into the backseat of the car. Though, I must admit, Issy’s attitude about tonight is contagious. I feel a bubble of happiness swell within my chest, and when Issy enters the car, I make kissy faces at her. She just sticks her tongue out, and continues to talk about the events of tonight. She suddenly stops in the middle of rant and gasps. I sit up straighter in my seat, thinking that something is wrong. 

“Do you think anyone will challenge Big Bro tonight?” She turns around in her seat to look at us. “I want you guys to see him fight! He is so good at it!” Furlan grabs her by the shoulder and forces her to look forward. 

“Stay seated.” She pouts at him. I don’t want to pry, but curiosity gets the best of me. 

“He fights? Is he any good?”

“ANY GOOD?!” She is shouting now, and she whips back around to glare at me. I see Furlan flinch in my periphery. “He is undefeated.” She slows down the last word like I am an idiot. She stares at me. “Undefeated.” She whispers one last time before slowly turning to look forward. Okay, then. I look over at Armin, who just shrugs. 

I have only seen fights on the television, never in real life. Even then, the fights on t.v. are always practiced, and no one really gets hurt. These fights I am about to witness will be different though. They will be real. Real blood, sweat, tears, and hopefully not any teeth. Will I be able to stomach watching someone get beaten up? I know that these people will be making their own decisions to enter a fight, but what happens when they realize that they are in over their head? Does the fight stop voluntarily, or when someone has been knocked out? I want to ask all of these questions and more, but I feel that I will get my answers whenever we arrive. I look out of the window, and I notice that Furlan has taken us to the not so good part of the city. The Underground. The name always seemed silly to me. Obviously, it is not physically underneath the city. It’s because of the shady dealings. Even now, I can see scantily dressed men and women underneath the streetlights that do work. Some of them are talking into the windows of parked cars; working out a deal. There is one lady, talking to a nervous looking man, who adjusts his hat to cover more of his face. Not wanting to be recognized by any passerby. There are other people roaming the streets, who are not looking for sex. They carry backpacks, and they don’t bother to hide the guns that they carry. Dealers. I quickly turn my head forward and stare at the back of Issy’s seat. I vow to not look away until we have reached our destination. I jump a little as I feel movement at my side, but I realize that it is just Armin. His hand reaches over to take a hold of mine. I clasp my hand in his, and I don’t let go until we pull into a parking lot. I do not want to get out of this car. Thank God Armin decides to speak up.

“This is safe?” He sounds as doubtful as I feel. The lot is full of cars, but almost no working lights. Issy lets out a giggle. 

“Of course, we come here all the time!” She gets out of the vehicle and opens my door. When I don’t get out right away, she huffs and grabs my arm to drag me out of the car. Is it me, or does it seem chillier in this part of town? I pull my hands into the sleeves of my hoodie. I scrunch up the ends in my fists and cross my arms over my chest. Armin comes over, and we huddle together. Issy crosses her own arms. “Guys, it’s not that bad! You are totally safe with us!” She forces her way between us, and hooks both of her arms through each of ours. She proceeds to lead us to an abandoned looking building. It looks like one of those haunted house attractions. It is an old three-story brick building with some of the bricks missing from the top. All the windows are spray painted over with black. There are some battered looking lattices framing the doorway, and blue and white string lights connecting them. The guy standing guard at the doorway is huge and bald. When we approach, he doesn’t say anything. He just nods at Furlan and opens the door for us. I almost trip over my own feet. I can hear the low beats of music coming from somewhere in the building. We walk into a narrow hallway, there is no light overhead. The main source of the light comes from the glow in the dark spray paint on the walls. Random doodles and names are spread all across the walls. The air is stale and unmoving. At the end of the hallway, there is an image of blue and white wings. Beneath it, in red lettering, is the word ‘Freedom’. Some of the paint has run down from the letters, making it look like blood. I don’t see a way out of the hallway. No else seems concerned that there is nowhere else to go once we hit the end, but right before Furlan hits the wings, he takes a sharp left. It’s too dark to see the opening, and it leads straight to a set of stairs. Safety hazard, much. I can imagine a bunch of drunk people killing themselves on this set of stairs. I am sober, and I am having a hard time getting down these stairs. The glow in the dark paintings continue on down the walls of the stairs. Finally, after we make it to the bottom of the death trap, there is light. Not much, but at least I can see where I am going now. We enter a huge room.

It must be the lower level of the building. There are floor to ceiling beams placed rhythmically throughout the room. The bar takes up the entire left wall, and there is random seating throughout the rest of the room. I am surprised to see many of my classmates here, but I probably shouldn’t be. I see Jean talking with a tall, freckled guy at the bar. By the way the man has a hand on Jean's thigh, I would say that they are close. I kind of want to go over to spoil the moment between them, but I won’t. Furlan and Issy break away from us immediately, and head in an unknown direction. I look over at Armin, but he is busy looking around the room for a certain someone. I grab his arm, and lead him to the bar where Jean is. I am sure that Erwin will find him soon enough. As we approach the pair, Jean notices us, and quickly moves his leg away from the man. Freckles looks put off by the sudden movement, and looks towards us. 

“Well, hello there.” He says in a suggestive manner, and I can see Jean tense up at the tone. Well, that’s what you get for pulling away from such a cute man. Big, round, brown eyes, and freckles scattered over his nose and cheeks. He has a nice smile, too. Why would Jean pull away? They looked comfortable a second ago. If you are too ashamed to be with someone, don’t flirt with them in the first place. “You two must be new here, Marco.” He extends his arm out, and we both take it. After introductions, I end up sitting by Jean, while Armin sits by Marco. A beer is set in front of me. I am not even of age, yet. Do they not card anyone here?

“I didn’t ask for one.” I look up at the older gentleman.

“All first timers get their first beer free.” I just nod as he walks away to serve others. I look down in distaste at the beverage. Jean bumps my shoulder with his. 

“Don’t like beer?” The short answer is no. I have tried beer before, and it just tastes bitter to me. I take a sip despite knowing that I am probably not going to like it. I see that Armin is practically blushing from head to toe. Marco must be laying it on thick down there. I continue to sip on the beer despite not liking the taste, and before I know it, the beer is gone. I wave at the bartender for another one, and he obliges. 

“Not really. Do you not like Marco?” I didn't mean to ask that. He looks taken aback for a second. 

“It’s not that… I just don’t know how to act with him around other people.” I can feel my face morph into one of confusion. 

“But you like him, right?” He nods. “Then it shouldn’t matter. If you like him, fuck everyone else.” I wave my hand around the room full of people. “He is cute, and you don’t want to miss out on that.” I say and point to Marco, who happens to be listening with rapt attention. 

“He is right, doll.” Jean jumps and turns toward him. 

“Says the guy flirting with Armin.” Jean says as he kisses Marco on the cheek. I am halfway through my second beer.

“Oh, that’s another thing.” I say as I look Marco dead in the eye. “You shouldn’t do that in front of the Jolly Green Giant.” I am met with blank stares, except for Armin who spits out some of his beer. I point a determined finger at Marco. “You. Should watch out, because this one,” I say as I point to Armin, “is spoken for.”

“You couldn’t be more right, Eren.” I turn to see the very person I was talking about, right behind me. He is not looking at me though. His gaze is intent on Marco, who doesn’t seem bothered by his stare whatsoever. Armin bounces off of his stool and over to Erwin. 

“Oh, you don’t have to worry, Boss, you know I’m taken.” He says as he nuzzles against Jean’s neck. Jean blushes, but he doesn’t push him away. I take this moment to scan around the room, and I take another sip. My eyes nearly bug out of my head as I spot a familiar head of black hair. Levi. I honestly didn’t think that he would be here. Ugh. I should have changed. As I continue to take in who is around him, I feel the hot spike of jealousy run through my chest. There are girls hanging around him. All scantily dressed to catch the eyes of anyone who will look. I know that it is a stupid thing to get jealous over. He isn’t mine. For all I know, our one encounter could’ve been caused by pheromones. Although, a part of me had hoped it was because of something more. Granted, he is not paying attention to any of them. He is too busy with his phone. I turn back around in my seat to take another sip, but I just end up downing the rest of the bottle. I signal for another one. I feel the familiar pleasant heat sweep over my body, and I know that he is looking at me. I turn back around to stare him in the eyes. I don’t look away. Why would I? His features don’t give anything away; all stoicism. I want to go talk to him. What’s stopping me? I am about to hop off of my stool when someone says something to me. 

“Hey, sweetheart, what are you doing here all alone?” What the hell? I am not alone? I look over to see that all four of the bastards have disappeared. Where did…? I do a quick scan of the vicinity, but I don’t see them anywhere. Well, fuck. I turn back to the unknown man. 

“Umm… Hi…” I clutch the now sweating bottle in both of my hands. What do you even say when a stranger approaches you? An awkward silence follows. I have never been a fan of pet names, especially if you say it to someone you don’t know. What possesses someone to go up to a total stranger and call them these things? The only time that I have ever felt okay with it, is when Petra says them, and maybe, some nice old ladies. Not this guy. His demeanor is cocky, and quite frankly, I just don’t like his face. 

“Can I buy you a drink?” I look down at my full bottle of beer and then up at him. I lift the bottle and shake it at him. I have had enough of this pointless conversation, so I go to step around in to look for Armin. I am almost past him, when I feel a bruising grip on my upper arm. He pulls me backwards, and I stumble into him and end up spilling my beer on the both of us. “Well, look at that! You need a new drink now, don’t you baby?” His smile is arrogant, and I want to punch it off his face. I try to push away from him, but he has a death grip on my arm. I feel my stomach tighten in fear as I feel his other hand on my back, traveling down. The fear is quickly overridden by anger. I roughly push against him, and I manage to break away from his hold, only to fall into someone else. I almost groan at the situation I am in, but then the smell hits me. The spicy, hot smell of cinnamon. I look up into his face, but all I see are icy daggers directed at the other man. Despite the intimidating look in his eyes, I relax into his lithe frame. He is a lot harder than I expected him to be. It doesn’t last for long though. Levi makes sure that I am steady on my feet, before approaching the other man. I can’t even hear his footsteps. 

“Oi, Tucker, right?” The man, Tucker, turns his head to address Levi. He seems to recognize Levi, because he stands a little straighter. His eyes twinkle in excitement. He looks like a puppy waiting for his master's call. 

“Levi!” Just like that, Tucker has forgotten all about me. I look over at Levi, to see that he is staring intently at the other. Levi is silent for a moment before addressing him. 

“You’ve asked to fight before, yeah?” If it is possible, the twinkle in Tucker’s eyes gets brighter. He nods excitedly in response. I can only stand by and watch as the scene unfolds. 

“Yeah, I had asked a couple of times, but they always said it was too busy, so…” Arranged fighting? I thought that this place would have spontaneous fights, not prearranged ones. If they were all like that, why was Levi asking about it now? Levi tilts his head to the side, and his eyes scan over Tucker’s frame. The difference between the two of them is pretty obvious. Tucker is tall, like way tall and lanky. I have trouble believing that he is any good at fighting, but what do I know about it?

Levi looks him in the eyes again, seemingly done with his assessment. “Then let's go.” With that, Levi turns around and walks away. I didn’t even notice that people had started to crowd around us. They made a path for Levi, as he made his way to a different set of stairs that I had used earlier. Everybody was chattering in excitement, now. What was going on? I look over at Tucker, and see that all of the color has drained from his face. The light in his eyes has completely diminished, and he looks like he is going to throw up all over the floor. He glances at me, and he gives me a once over. I can’t help but look down at my plain jeans and hoodie. What is he looking at? I get distracted by the hum of excited whispers that turn into full blown shouting. The crowd starts to move in the direction that Levi went. I get swept up in the crowd. I want to look for my friends, but I figure it is futile. It’s easier to go with the crowd then against it, anyway. As I shuffle along, I glance around every so often for anyone I might know. All of the shouts seem to echo in the stairwell, making everything louder. I can feel a slight throbbing in the back of my head. I rub the area as if that will make my headache go away. When I reach the top of the stairs, I am in an arena, a literal arena. 

In the middle of the room, there is an octagon, like the one you see in MMA fighting, but the cage extends all the well to the ceiling. There is only one entrance/exit into it, with a familiar looking man guarding it. Just looking at the massive cage, a shiver goes down my spine. It feels ominous, like once you enter it, there is no way out of it; no backing out. I look down at the mat lining the floor of the cage. I feel my face pale as I take in the dark stains scattered across the flooring. That can only be one thing. I look away from the ghastly sight. All around the octagon, are sets of wooden benches, each one going a little higher than the last. People are already starting to fill them up. I finally spot a head of bright red hair up by the cage. I don’t bother with pleasantries as I force my way through the crowd towards Issy. When she catches sight of me, she waves excitedly at me. 

“Can you believe it!? My wish came true!” She grabs a hold of my hand and jumps up and down with so much force that my body is moving with hers. “I couldn’t believe it when I first heard it, but it’s happening! We get to watch Big Bro fight!” She is all smiles as she looks around the crowd of people. Big Bro? Well, that can only mean it’s one of two people, and I don’t think it is the guy who hit on me. So… 

“Levi?” I know that Issy said that they are not blood related, but it is hard to imagine the two of them carrying on any sort of conversation. They are just so different, Issy with her brightness, and Levi with his… impassiveness. But, what do I know? I don’t know what struggle that they have been through together. She whips her head around at the sound of his name. 

“You’ve met him? When?” I blush, remember the not no subtle hints I had literally thrown his way the other day. 

“A couple of days ago, at the library…” She scans over my face before nodding. We hear the crowd start to quiet down, and I stand on my tiptoes to see what is happening. It’s Tucker. They must have a locker room somewhere in the building because he is now in a pair of athletic shorts. He looks scared shitless. It looks like he can’t decide to either throw himself off of this building or piss himself. Is Levi really that scary? If it is even possible, Tucker’s face goes whiter. If there was silence when Tucker came in, that is nothing compared to when Levi enters the ring. It’s so quiet, that I try hard not to breathe too loudly, in fear of breaking the silence. I tear my eyes from the terrified man, to look at his opponent. Holy Mother of God… My jaw drops as my eyes drink in the vision that is Levi. He, like Tucker, is wearing nothing but athletic shorts, allowing my eyes, and everyone else's, to have free reign over his well built form. He is ripped, but not overly so, which is appealing. Levi doesn’t pay anybody any mind when he walks to the center of the ring to meet Tucker, when Levi stops, the sound resumes in the crowd. Levi has wrapping over his hands and ankles. A pretty young woman meets them in the middle of the ring. She talks with the both of them, but I can’t hear a word that they say. As the guys bump fists and move away from each other, I can’t help but feel nervous. My stomach twists in knots as they stare at each other. Unconsciously, my thumbnail finds its way into my mouth. I don’t know who I am more nervous for. Levi, who I want to be okay, or Tucker, who still looks like he would rather jump off a cliff. Tucker seems to shake himself out of it. Maybe he realized that there was no way out of this? He shakes his head viciously before squaring up; eyes determined. Levi, on the other hand, looks calm and collected. His face doesn’t give anything away, as he gracefully gets into position. I’m glad that the woman doesn’t prance around the ring like on the television. She just looks at both of them in confirmation that they are ready. When they both nod, she steps out of the ring. I guess that is the signal for them to start. 

I expect someone to charge at the other, like what you see in the movies, but no one moves for what feels like several minutes. Finally, Tucker is tired of waiting, and makes the first move. Levi easily dodges all of his attacks, while staying light on his feet. Every now and then, Levi will counter an attack with one of his own, but they weren’t punches. They were light taps and pushes as they made their way around the ring. It felt like Levi wasn’t taking this seriously, like he was playing with him. Tucker seems to sense this and I can see him huff in frustration before lowering his arms and stop moving all together. Levi, on the other hand, doesn’t let his stance drop. His eyes focus on Tucker. They resume their dance around the ring, with Levi evading and Tucker getting more annoyed by the minute. He stops again and looks skyward. When he looks back down at Levi, he has a smirk on his face. He leans forward and whispers something to Levi. The next move happens so fast. I didn’t even see Levi move. All I see is Tucker’s head whip to the side. A fine dusting of pink flies in the air and stains the white shirt of one of the bystanders. Levi starts whaling on the man. Whatever he said must have pissed him off… I can only watch in awe as Levi doesn’t even give Tucker the chance to defend himself. He tries though. He weakly puts up his arms in defense, but it’s no use. Levi finally gets control of himself, and steps away. He begins to pace the cage like a wild animal. Back and forth, back and forth. When someone tries to enter the ring to help Tucker, he kicks the door closed, preventing them from entering, before turning his gaze on the bleeding man. He seems to be fighting with himself about something. Just pacing the ring, with his hard gaze on Tucker. Tucker is bleeding from several different places on his face, and his right eye is swollen shut. He looks awful. He moves up to a sitting position and scans the crowd with his good eye. We make eye contact, and I can’t help but feel bad for him. His nose looks broken, and it has a steady stream of blood coming out of it. The blood drips down his face, joining the collection of stains on the floor. As he turns his head to look at Levi again, he is met with a knee to the face. The blow sends him sprawling closer to me. I want to back away, despite there being a cage in between us, but there are too many people. Levi is relentless in his chase, and he follows Tucker across the mat. Levi grabs a fistful of Tucker’s hair and drags him closer to where I am standing. Levi lifts up his limp body as if he weighs nothing, and slams his face into the fence. The skin of his cheek protrudes through holes in the fence, as Levi presses him further into it. The blood continues to flow. I feel warm again. I tear my eyes off of the gruesome sight and look at Levi. 

His cold stare is already on me. How can someone's stare make me so warm? His eyes are trained on me, but I can’t see through the wall. I might not be able to decipher his actions, but omega can. I can feel them preening at the display because they know what this is. It is an offering. A statement to what he can provide for and do for us. See this, he can protect us. He will take care of us. He will make sure that we have what we need. The heat in my body increases tenfold, and I am now uncomfortable in my hoodie. I unconsciously take a step forward. He deserves something for the display, right? My omega certainly thinks so. When Levi sees my movement, he drops Tucker like a sack of potatoes. His hand falls onto the place where Tucker’s face was. The wrappings on his hand soaking up the blood on the fence. I am about to take another step, but I am pushed out of the way by Issy. I almost fall to the floor, but Armin manages to catch me. Issy is rapidly talking to Levi, who seems to not be paying any attention. Issy pouts and starts to berate him. He is stepping away from the fence, and me. I feel panic in my throat as I watch him walk away. I want to follow him, but there is no way I will be able to in this crowd. I use Armin as leverage as I stand on my tiptoes to try and see Levi. No luck though. I bounce back on my heels, shoulders slumped. I see Armin in my periphery, and turn to see his smirk.

“What?” He gives me a knowing look before shaking his head.

“Nothing, just watching you drool is all.” He laughs when I reach up and wipe my mouth. 

“I wasn’t drooling…” I mumble. Ogling, yes. Drooling, no. Who could blame me if I was? Levi has a great physique. Capable. I want to see it again, but it’s not like I can go up to him and ask. I look in the ring to see two men carrying the limp Tucker away, his feet dragging behind him. 

“Do you know if they have medical assistance here?” Armin threads his arm through mine as he takes me away from the ring. 

“I have no idea, but I would imagine that they do.” I hope so. Tucker will probably need his nose reset. I grimace at the thought. As we make down to the lower level, I see Levi heading up the stairs to the exit. Without even thinking, I pull away from Armin to follow him. Armin is quick to grab my arm though. I turn to give him a pleading expression. I have to do this. The alpha went through the trouble, and my omega wants to reward him. When he doesn’t let me go, I let out a soft whine. I know he is confused, but the explanation will have to wait until later. I gently pry his hand off of my arm, and turn to practically run to the stairs. 

“Eren!” I pay him no mind as I start up the stairs. I had forgotten how dark it was, and I stumble on the steps and hit my shin on an edge of one of the stairs. The pain doesn’t register in my mind. I have to catch him before he leaves. Armin must think I am crazy. Chasing after a man who just beat the shit out of someone. I finally make it up the stairs, and I make quick work of the hallway. The chilly air outside is welcoming. It cools my heated skin as I look around. I don’t see him. I turn to look at the bald guy from earlier. Before I can ask, he is pointing in the direction of the parking lot. I nod my thanks and speed walk towards it. I don’t even know what he drives. Ugh. I feel like a creeper, and I guess, I technically am. I chased a guy out to the parking, for what? How do I know that what he did was for me? Maybe he just wanted to fight, and the guy putting his unwanted advances on an omega didn’t sit well with him. I should go back. My omega is hell bent, though. He had gotten rid of the threat. We needed to show him our gratitude. I hear a door slam. I look in that direction, and start to walk. It’s not long before I see him. He is next to a black Jeep Wrangler. Of course, he is about to light up. My heart is beating so fast as I approach him. I have to do this, but at the same time, I just want to run the other way. Before I can back out, my omega makes the decision for me. 

“Hey!” I shout, and I see him turn to face me. I throw myself at him, and connect our lips in a kiss. I don’t know what I was expecting my omega to do, but this wasn’t it. I thought maybe a ‘thank you’ would be in order, but apparently, he deserves more than that. I have to admit though, that this is loads better than my first kiss. My first kiss had been awful. I was thirteen, I think. We had done it behind a parked car at one of the dirt races in town. I was expecting a light peck on the lips, but I was surprised when I felt lips on my nose and chin. I am still convinced to this day, that he was trying to eat my face off. This kiss, though. This kiss is nothing like that. It is pure heat and desire. If he is caught off guard, he doesn’t show it. He immediately responds. He grabs the backs of my thighs, and lifts me up. He turns us so that my back is against the door. I wrap my legs and arms around him, like he is a lifesaver. As we continue, my hands move upwards into his hair. I feel the prickles of his undercut, before coming in contact with his soft hair. His hands move from my thighs to my ass, and he squeezes. I let out a gasp, and he takes the opportunity to slip his tongue inside. He even tastes like cinnamon. It’s almost like chewing on a piece of Big Red. It’s almost too much, but I want more. I don’t have much experience in kissing, so he wins easily. He uses his hips to pin mine, and I can feel his hands start to wonder. They came up over my hoodie, and I can feel the tingle on skin through the material. One hand stops at my waist, but the other continues on. I feel his cold fingertips on the heated skin of my neck. His hand dives into my hair. He grabs a fistful before pulling my head back. I whine leaves my throat as he breaks the kiss. The top of my head hits the car door, and I find myself looking into the night sky above. I’m gasping for air, and I can hear Levi do the same. My breathing is so fast. I try to control it, but I don’t have enough brain at the moment. I can feel his eyes on me. Raking over the expanse of my neck. He dives in. I plants kisses all over, before licking up the length of my neck. My legs tighten around him, and he lets out a groan. He loosens the grip on my hair. I wait a moment before moving my head to look at him. He scans my face before coming in for another kiss. This one is soft, a peck on the lips. He pulls back to look into my eyes. His eyes are different now. They have lost their hard edge, but they are still unreadable. I find that I am… content looking at him. I slowly move my head forward, to nuzzle against his neck. He smells so fucking good. I let out a purr of contentment. I could stay here forever. 

“Eren!” Of course, all good things end. I groan and nuzzle closer to Levi, if that’s even possible. Levi pats my thigh, and I groan again. I don’t want to move, but I guess I have to. I untangle my legs, and find my feet back on the ground. I am immediately bombarded by Armin. “You can’t just run off like that!” He grabs my arm and starts to drag me away. A part of me wants to protest. I look back at Levi to see that he is now in his vehicle. I give a little wave. I smile as he gives one of his own before driving away. I am on a high right now, and I don’t think anything can bring me down at this moment. Armin continues to go on and on about stranger danger, but I am too distracted by the taste of cinnamon on my lips.


End file.
